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ESHCOL 


M^  y- 


ESHCOL 


15  y 


S  J  HUMPHREY  D  D 

INTRODUCTION    BY 

F  A  NOBLE  D  D 


New  York       Chicago       Toronto 
Fleming  H   Revell  Company 

Fublislu-rs  of  /ii'iita^rlicul  Literature 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1893. 
by  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,  in  the  office  of  the  Libra- 
rian of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


This  cluster  of  narratives  is  gath- 
ered FROM  A  GOOD  LAND  WHICH  THE 
LORD  GIVES  TO  HIS  PEOPLE  WITH  THE 
COMMAND  THAT  THEY  GO  UP  AT  ONCE 
AND   POSSESS   IT. 

IT  IS  ONLY  A  SPECIMEN  CLUSTER  FROM  A  GLO- 
RIOUS VINTAGE   NOW   IN   PROGRESS. 

IF  THESE  "FRUITS  OF  THE  LAND"  SHALL 
STIMULATE  THE  FAITH  OF  ANY  BELIEV- 
ERS AND  SHALL  AWAKEN  IN  THEM  AN  EX- 
PECTATION OF  GREATER  THINGS  TO  FOL- 
LOW, THE  PURPOSE  OF  COLLECTING  THEM 
INTO  THIS  LITTLE  VOLUME  WILL  HAVE 
BEEN  ACCOMPLISHED. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


19(i?8?5 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction  hy  Rev.  F,   A.    Noble 5 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Maharajah  Dhulkep  Singh 

PART     I.  The  Maharajah 11 

PART  II.  The  Maharanee 28 

CHAPTER  II. 
Four  Memorable  Years  at  Hilo 51 

CHAPTER  III. 
Evangelism  in  the  Pacific 89 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Story  ok  Niwe 97 

CHAPTER  V. 
Missions  and  the  Skeptics 109 

CHAPTER  VI. 
An  Evening  with  an  Old  Missionary..  ..    iii 

CHAPTER   VII. 
A  Visit  to  the  Dakoias 130 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Genesis  of  a  Windmili 145 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Talamas-mic  o 157 

'  CHAPTER  X. 
Two  Catastrophes 168 

CHAPTER  XL 
Is  IT  A  Waste? 174 


INTRODUCTION. 

Good  books,  whoever  writes  them,  are  of 
God;  and  they  help  to  do  God's  work  in  the 
world.  Had  we  the  cunning  to  trace  back  in- 
tellectual and  moral  influences  to  their  source 
we  should  find,  doubtless,  that  never  yet  was 
there  a  good  book  issued  which  did  not  become 
the  starting-point  and  impulse  of  some  soul  to 
a  new  and  nobler  life. 

The  book  from  whose  delights  these  few  words 
of  mine  are  to  detain  the  reader  for  a  moment 
— unless,  as  is  more  likely,  he  is  wise  enough 
to  skip  them  altogether — is  a  remarkably  good 
one. 

It  is  good  in  the  literary  skill  and  delicacy 
with  which  the  matter  composing  it  is  handled. 
The  author  of  this  book  is  master  of  the  fine 
art  of  clear  statement.  He  has  a  subtle  sense 
of  the  meaning  of  words,  and  one  who  studies 
his  writings  will  see  that  he  never  misses  in 
his  choice  of  exactly  the  right  word  to  convey 
the  idea  he  has  in  mind.  But  he  knows  how 
to  be  attractive  as  well  as  clear.  He  has  an 
eye  for  the  picturesque;  and  he  is  sensitive 
to  whatever  may  be  touching  or  dramatic  in 
any  given  situation.  There  are  stories  in  this 
volume  as  charming  in    style,  and  as    fascinat- 


VI  INTRODUCTION 

ing,  as  anything  to  be  found  in  our  best  mag- 
azines. 

It  is  good  in  the  testimony  it  renders  to  the 
high  and  splendid  heroism  of  our  beloved  mis- 
sionaries. One  need  not 'turn  to  novels  for 
exciting  narratives,  nor  for  lofty  ideals  of  manly 
and  womanly  character,  so  long  as  this  stir- 
ring book  is  within  reach.  How  it  thrills  the 
soul,  and  at  the  same  time  makes  us  ashamed 
both  of  our  attainments  and  our  standards  in 
the  Christian  life,  to  read  these  stories  of  the 
Coans  and  the  Lymans  in  the  Sandwich  Is- 
lands, of  the  Whitmans  and  the  Spauldings  of 
early  Oregon,  of  the  Williamsons  and  the 
Riggs  and  their  associates  and  descendants 
among  the  Dakotas,  and  of  the  much-enduring 
and  brave  Wheelers  up  in  their  then  remote 
Lake  Superior  region.  There  is  tonic,  energy, 
and  material  for  the  kindling  of  an  unbounded 
enthusiasm,  in  the  records  here  disclosed  of 
personal  loyalty  to  Jesus,  and  of  undaunted 
courage  in  taking  up  the  work  He  has  appoint- 
ed, and  of  toils  and  sacrifices  and  victories  for 
the  Master.  It  is  a  precious  service  to  Christ 
and  to  humanity  to  write  these  names,  and  all 
names  like  them,  on  our  banners,  and  to  hold 
them  high  aloft  as  we  press  forward  to  the 
final  triumph  of  the  Captain  of  our    salvation. 


INTRODUCTION  vii 

This  book  is  good,  further  and  eminently, 
in  the  fresh  demonstration  it  affords  of  the 
active  participation  of  God  in  the  affairs  of 
men,  and  in  the  setting  forward  of  His  king- 
dom in  the  world. 

Dr.  Humphrey  has  had  exceptional  opportu- 
nities for  gathering  facts  and  studying  inci- 
dents and  movements  which  bear  on  the  prog- 
ress of  the  divine  righteousness.  For  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  his  office  has  been  a  focal  point 
of  rays  of  intelligence  from  all  parts  of  the 
globe.  It  has  been  a  condition  of  highest 
efficiency  in  his  calling  that  he  should  have  a 
mind  open  and  alert,  not  only  to  interests  spe- 
cifically religious,  but  to  all  that  was  going  on, 
whether  in  spheres  of  war  and  rebellion,  or 
politics  and  diplomacy,  or  trade  and  commerce, 
or  invention  and  discovery,  amongst  all  the 
peoples,  and  in  all  sections  of  the  earth.  As 
intelligence  has  reached  him  from  time  to 
time  concerning  various  events,  and  from  vari- 
ous lands  he  has  been  quick  to  detect  the 
presence  of  Him  who  was  in  the  burning  bush, 
and  who  authenticated  the  mission  of  His  Son 
by  a  voice  from  out  the  clouds.  Hence  a  se- 
ries of  narratives  which  are  just  as  conclusive 
of  God's  interest  and  activity  in  the  establish- 
ment of  His  kingdom  among  men  as  is  the 
Book  of  Acts. 


VIH  INTRODUCTION 

A  dozen  pages  or  so  of  the  volume  are  de- 
voted to  the  discussion  of  the  specific  subject 
of  Missions  and  the  Skeptics.  But  the  whole 
book  is  a  challenge  to  skepticism.  The  changes 
wrought  in  opinion  and  habit  and  custom  and 
character  here  noted,  many  of  them  so  sudden 
and  radical,  are  simply  unaccountable  on  any 
other  theory  than  that  of  the  grace  of  God 
moving  indirectly  and  in  vital  currents  on 
human  hearts.  As  our  author  well  says:  "If 
one  needs  an  argument  for  the  divine  presence 
in  the  world  let  him  study  the  work  of  God  in 
Micronesia.  It  will  be  difficult  for  the  tough- 
est unbelief  to  stand  against  the  evidence  fur- 
nished by  the  fifty  churches  and  the  five  thou- 
sand Christians  in  twenty  years  gathered  out  of 
the  pollution  of  heathenism  in  these  far  is- 
lands of  the  sea."  Yet,  as  is  further  intima- 
ted, Micronesia  is  not  alone  in  furnishing  this 
evidence.  As  often  as  any  soul  anywhere  is 
born  into  the  kingdom  fresh  proof  is  afforded 
of  the  presence  and  power  of  God.  "Regen- 
eration is  the  paramount  miracle." 

This  book  purports  to  be  a  collection  of 
missionary  narratives — types  of  many  similar 
stories  which  might  be  told.  This  it  is.  But 
it  is  more.  It  is  a  treatise  on  the  evidences 
of  Christianity  and  the  immanence  of  God.    We 


INTRODUCTION  IX 

have  a  living  God,  and  a  living  Christ,  and  a 
living  Spirit;  and  this  divine  life  is  all  the 
time  coming  into  manifestation  in  the  renew- 
ing of  souls  and  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
kingdom  which  cannot  be  moved. 

This  is  a  book  to  be  read  and  re-read  by  all 
who  love  our  Lord,  and  are  in  sympathy  with 
His  servants  who  labor  in  the  "regions  be- 
yond." It  ought  especially  to  be  read  by  young 
Christians.  A  broadened  knowledge  of  the 
things  of  the  kingdom,  a  higher  conception  of 
the  privilege  and  duties  of  discipleship,  and 
a  quickened  zeal,  will  be  sure  to  follow  the 
mastery  of  the  facts  here  so  luminously  set  forth. 
"Mission  Bands,"  "Societies  of  Christian  En- 
deavor," "Monthly  Concert  Committees,"  and 
ministers  as  well,  will  find  abundant  material  in 
this  book  to  work  into  missionary  programmes. 

It  may  not  be  quite  kind  to  cry  for  more 
while  what  we  already  have  has  not  yet  been 
disposed  of;  but  if  others,  as  I  doubt  not  they 
will,  find  "Eshcol"  as  sweet  to  their  taste  as  I 
have  found  it  to  mine,  there  will  be  a  general 
demand  that  the  author  go  back  into  the  rich 
vineyard  from  which  he  has  gathered  these 
clusters  and  bring  others  of  the  same  delicious 
flavor  and  nutritious  quality. 

F.  A.  Noble. 
Union  Park  Cong.   Church. 
Sept.  7,  i-<^pj. 


ESHCOL 


THE  MAHARAJAH  DHULEEP  SINGH. 

Part  First. 

The  reported  death  of  the  young  Indian  prince, 
Victor  Albert,  of  which  mention  has  been 
made  in  the  daily  press,  recalls  the  some- 
what remarkable  life  of  his  father,  Dhuleep 
Singh.  This  story  derives  a  peculiar  interest 
from  his  romantic  marriage  with  a  young  Egyp- 
tian girl  of  humblest  birth,  who  was  thereby 
raised  to  a  station  little  short  of  royalty. 

As  an  illustration  of  an  overuling  providence 
which  sometimes  leads  human  lives  into  ways 
of  which  they  could  not  have  dreamed — ways 
stranger  than  any  fiction  portrays — and  espec- 
ially as  a  beautiful  example  of  the  power  of 
divine  grace  under  most  trying  circumstances, 
it  may  repay  the  reading,  as  it  has  already 
given  abundant  recompense  for  the  labor  of 
U 


12  ESHCOL 

gathering  up,  from  many  diverse  sources,  the 
fragments  of  the  story  and  of  giving  them  an 
appropriate  setting. 

INDIA  AND     THE    PUNJAB. 

It  will  be  well  at  the  outset  to  glance  at  the 
■province  of  which,  until  dispossessed  by  the 
English,  Dhuleep  Singh  was  the  hereditary 
Prince.  The  Punjab  lies  about  the  five  prin- 
cipal tributaries  of  the  Indus.  It  takes  its 
name  from  this  circumstance,  and  is  sometimes 
called  the  Province  of  the  Five  Rivers.  Con- 
stituting the  northwestern  angle  of  India,  it 
pushes  itself  up  to  the  southern  slopes  of  the 
Himalayas  within  which  lie  those  elevated 
plains,  poetically  called  "The  Roof  of  the 
World."  These  stupendous  mountain  masses 
with  peaks  whose  altitudes  would  not  be  over- 
matched if  Alps  were  piled  upon  the  Rockies, 
some  of  whose  valleys  even  rise  above  the  line 
of  perpetual  snow,  would  form  an  invincible 
barrier  against  incursions  from  the  north  were 
it  not  for  certain  treacherous  passes.  Through 
these  and  through  others  toward  the  northeast, 
from  times  reaching  back  into  the  dim  mists 
of  antiquity,  successive  waves  of  invading  hosts 
have  poured  themselves  over  the  rich  plains  of 


DHULEEP  SINGH  13 

India,  ravaging  its  cities  and  subduing  its 
peoples,  each  succeeding  flood  depositing  some 
sediment  of  its  race,  language  and  religion. 

The  Aryan  invaders,  more  than  three  thou- 
sand years  ago,  found,  and  in  part  subdued, 
aboriginal  tribes  who  themselves  had  dispos- 
sessed earlier  and  ruder  races,  as  they  in  turn 
had  pushed  others  before  them,  until  the  arche- 
ologist  sees  the  clue  disappearing  in  the  trace- 
less  vista  of  the  Bronze  and  Stone  Ages.  Since 
then  Scythians,  Greeks,  Tartars,  Arabs,  Turks, 
have  had  their  turn,  and  have  each  left  some 
fragments  of  their  peoples  and  customs. 

There  have  been  invasions  of  religions  as  well 
as  of  races.  Upon  the  simple  and  rude  faith 
of  the  earlier  tribes  Brahminism  imposed  itself. 
In  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  Buddhism 
swept  over  the  land.  After  five  successive  in- 
vasions, beginning  in  the  year  looo  A.  D.,  the 
followers  of  Mahomet  secured  a  foothold  and 
an  empire,  and  now  England  holds  sway  and 
Christianity  is  slowly  disintegrating  the  faiths 
that  for  so  many  centuries  have  held  in  a  cruel 
and  debasing  thrall  the  millions  of  India. 

THK    HINDOO    PEOPLE, 

which  constitutes  the  bulk  of  the  population, 
is  an  amalgam  of  these  tribes    and    races,   the 


14  ESHCOL 

elements  being  mixed  in  varying  proportions 
in  different  parts  of  the  countr}'.  But  there 
are  fragments,  some  of  them  large,  which 
refuse  to  be  melted  into  the  composite  mass. 
Still  existing  in  remote  corners  are  found  the 
dog-faced  man-eaters  of  a  prehistoric  age.  Sev- 
eral aboriginal  tribes,  numbering  about  eighteen 
millions,  hold  their  own  in  the  recesses  of  the 
mountains.  More  Mohammedans  bow  to  the 
scepter  of  England's  Queen  in  India  than  are 
ruled  from  the  Sublime  Porte  in  Turkey.  And 
the  proud  Brahmins,  having  not  far  from 
eighteen  millions  claim  identity  with  the  fair 
skinned  Aryans,  and  so  hold  cousinship  with 
the  mighty  peoples  of  Greece,  Rome  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race. 

India  is  a  very  paradise  for  the  student  of 
language,  the  ethnologist  and  the  antiquarian. 
In  looking  over  the  pages  of  its  history  one 
feels  as  if  he  were  turning  a  kaleidoscope.  It 
is  an  interlacing  jungle  of  invasions,  races, 
dynasties,  governments,  religions,  almost  as 
impervious  and  interminable  as  are  the  dense 
tropic  growths  alqng  its  river  banks.  A  land 
of  romance  and  mystery,  it  has  been  the 
world's  story  book  for  thousands  of  years,  its 
marvels  reaching  into  the  cloud  regions  of 
mythologic  ages.     The  history  and    conditions 


DHULEEP  SINGH  15 

of  this  wonderland  have  engaged  and  fascinated 
some  of  the  best  minds  of  the  world  and  the 
volumes  they  have  produced  in  number  reach 
into  the  hundreds. 

THE    NORTHWESTERN    GATEWAY. 

The  Punjab  lying  at  the  northwestern  gate- 
way of  the  Hindoostan  peninsula  has  had  its 
full  share  in  the  tramplings  of  invaders  and  in 
the  intermixture  of  their  races.  Through  its 
passes  the  Aryans  found  their  way  into  India. 
Here  they  lingered  long,  attracted  by  the  per- 
ennial streams,  fed  by  the  melting  snows  of  the 
Himalayas,  and  by  the  fertile  valleys  of  which 
they  sang  as  the  Holy  land  "fashioned  of  God 
and  chosen  by  the  Creator." 

Here,  while  Moses  was  leading  Israel  out  of 
Egypt,  and  Miriam  was  singing  her  jubilant 
song,  they  were  settling  down  from  their 
nomadic  state  into  communities  of  peaceful 
husbandmen,  and  here,  out  of  their  gentle 
pastoral  life,  grew  up  that  great  and  most  ven- 
erable literary  memorial  of  ancient  India,  the 
Rig- Veda.  In  it  they  praise  "Him  whose 
greatness  the  snowy  ranges  and  the  sea  and 
the  aerial  river  declare."  "In  all  its  long 
wanderings  through  India  the  Aryan  race  never 
forgot  its    Northern    home.      There    dwelt    its 


16  ESHCOL 

gods  and  holy  singers,  and  their  eloquence 
descended  from  heaven  among  men." 

After  the  invasion  of  Alexander  in  327,  B.  C, 
Greeks  settled  in  the  Punjab,  and  the  impress 
of  their  genius  is  still  seen  in  the  shrines  and 
images  of  Buddha.  Twelve  centuries  after 
began  the  successive  Mohammedan  invasions 
which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  the  Mughal 
empire  under  Baber  in  1525,  and  which  lasted 
in  form  at  least,  long  after  England  appeared 
on  the  scene. 

In  the  events  which  brought  Baber  to  the 
throne,  there  arose  in  the  Punjab  a  people 
called  the  Sikhs.  They  were  a  religious  sect 
and  not  a  race. 

Beginning  as  reformers  of  the  gross  religions 
around  them,  through  persecution  they  became 
compacted  into  a  tribe  of  warriors,  and  in 
1798  one  of  their  young  chiefs  at  the  age  of 
twenty  was  made  ruler  of  Lahore.    This  was 

RUNJIT   SINGH, 

the  father  of  prince  Dhuleep  Singh.  He  was 
the  son  of  Maha  Singh,  a  Jat  Sikh  who  died 
in  1792.  The  career  of  Runjit  was  one  of  the 
most  notable  among  all  the  princes  of  India. 
He  had  no  education,  for  his  youth  was  spent 
in  a  wild  revel  of    dissipation,  but    possessing 


DHUI.EEP  SINGH  17 

a  strong  will,  immense  energy  and  a  peculiar 
acuteness  in  gaining  information,  he  soon 
reached  a  commanding  position  among  the 
various  clans  of  his  sect.  Collecting  an  army 
which  ultimately  numbered  a  hundred  thousand 
soldiers,  he  secured  the  services  of  European 
officers  who  drilled  his  troops  and  greatly  im- 
proved his  artillery.  It  is  said  that  this  army 
for  steadiness  and  religious  fervor  has  had  no 
parallel     since    the    "Ironsides"    of  Cromwell. 

Managing  with  consummate  courage  and  ad- 
dress, Runjit  subdued  the  Punjab  and,  setting 
up  the  kingdom  of  Lahore,  for  a  time  bade 
defiance  to  England  itself.  "When  I  cross  the 
Sutlej,"  he  said,  "the  foundations  of  the  Gov- 
ernment House  at  Calcutta  will  rock!"  To  the 
English  viceroy's  proposal  for  a  conference 
he  haughtily  replied  "Hindoostan  is  not  large 
enough  for  me  and  you  I"  But  later  he  wisely 
entered  into  friendly  relations  with  the  English 
which  he  honorably  maintained    till  his  death. 

An  ancestor  of  his,  laying  aside  the  name 
Sikh,  a  disciple,  adopted  the  designation 
Singh,  a  lion  and  this  became  from  that  time 
on  the  designation  of  the  reigning  prince. 
Runjit  has  been  properly  called  the  veritable 
"Old  Lion  of  the  Punjab." 


18  ESHCOL 


A  HINDOO   FUNERAL. 


He  died  in  1839  His  last  obsequies  were 
celebrated  after  the  manner  of  the  Hindoos. 
Four  of  his  wives  and  seven  of  his  favorite 
female  slaves,  some  of  whom  were  young  girls 
of  fifteen,  were  marched  in  procession  to  the 
pile  of  sandal  wood  where  his  body  lay  in 
state.  They  being  disposed  about  the  dead 
monarch,  the  whole  pile  was  thickly  covered 
with  jungle  grass  saturated  with  oil.  The 
oldest  son  applied  the  torch,  and  in  the  fierce 
burning  the  whole  mass,  the  living  and  the 
dead,  was  consumed.  To  complete  the  ceremony 
the  ashes  were  carefuly  gathered  up  and  cast 
into  the  sacred  river. 

Runjit  left  no  son  capable  of  taking  his 
place.  For  ten  years  Lahore  was  torn  with 
conflicts  between  rival  generals,  ministers  and 
queens.  Dissensions  sprung  up  in  the  royal 
family,  and  the  various  branches,  Orientalwise, 
began  a  process  of  mutual  extermination,  until 
almost  none  were  left. 

If  this  seems  incredible,  let  us  recall  the  fact 
that  early  in  this  century  upon  the  death  of  a 
Sultan  at  Constantinople,  his  successor  gathered 
out  from  the  royal  harems  the  wives  and  the 
female  slaves — with  their  relations — of  the  d^- 


DHULEEP  SINGH  19 

parted  emperor,  in  all  to  the  number  of  two 
hundred,  and  tying  up  the  wretched  creatures 
in  sacks  had  then  quietly  dropped  into  the 
Bosphorus.  Truly  "the  dark  places  of  the  earth 
are  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty."  Let  us 
congratulate  ourselves  that  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity is  making  progress,  for,  outside  darkest 
Africa,  no  monarch  of  the  world  would  now 
dare  repeat  such  an  outrage  as  that. 

That  the  child  Dhuleep,  who  was  but  four 
years  old  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death, 
escaped  assassination  with  the  others  must 
have  been  owing  to  the  superior  craft  of  his 
mother,  the  Maharanee  Junda  Kowr.  She  was 
a  shrewd  woman,  bold,  unscrupulous,  flagrantly 
immoral,  and  quite  capable  of  helping  to  clear 
the  way  to  the  throne  for  her  infant  son.  After 
this  ten  years  of  anarchy  the  English  govern- 
ment laid  its  hand  upon  the  distracted  pro- 
vince. The  Maharanee,  who  had  secretly  fo- 
mented the  misrule,  and  the  young  prince  were 
separated  from  their  people  and  brought  to 
Futteghur. 

In  lieu  of  his  kingdopi  Dhuleep  now  fourteen 
years  of  age,  received  an  allowance  of  ^50,000 
a  year,  a  title  and  a  princely  estate  in  Norfolk, 
England,  to  which  he  subsequently  retired. 


20  ESHCOL 

THE   RULE   OF   ENLAND  IN   INDIA, 

is  by  many  quite  misunderstood.  Doubtless 
there  have  been  evils  and  injustice  in  the  pro- 
cess, but  the  control  which  she  has  now  estab- 
lished in  that  country  ranks  among  the  highest 
achievements  of  modern  civilization.  India 
is  as  large  as  all  Europe  excepting  Russia. 
The  people  are  quite  as  diverse  in  race,  lan- 
guage and  religion.  In  the  twelve  provinces 
and  150  feudatory  states  no  less  than  a  hun- 
dred different  tongues  and  dialects  are  spoken. 
England  rules  over  more  than  twice  as  many 
people  in  India  as  the  Roman  Empire  num- 
bered in  its  palmiest  days.  Were  it  not  for 
her  wise  and  firm  hand  the  country  would  be 
filled  with  a  chaos  of  contending  races,  break- 
ing out,  judging  from  the  past,  into  deadly 
strife  and  inhuman  cruelties.  To  harmonize 
such  a  conglomerate  mass  of  people;  to  abolish 
the  gross  and  revolting  customs  of  hook-swing- 
ing,infanticide  and  widow-burning;  to  introduce 
education ;  to  open  avenues  for  civil  service 
to  competent  natives;  and  to  put  into  opera- 
tion many  sanitary  and  beneficent  measures 
— and  this  among  a  people  sensitive,  jealous 
and  fanatical — these  and  other  great  measures 
have    required    the     highest    qualities    of    the 


DHULEEP  SINGH  21 

soldier  and  the  statesman.  England  exceeds 
all  modern  nations  in  its  capacity  to  govern, 
in  an  effective  and  beneficent  way,  the  inferior 
races.  It  is  for  the  interests,  not  only  of  the 
people  themselves,  but  of  our  common  human- 
ity that  England  should  continue  to  rule  India. 

THE    MOUNTAIN   OF   LIGHT. 

Among  the  treasures  which  came  to  the  Eng- 
lish in  the  transfer  of  the  Punjab  was  the 
celebrated  Koh-i-noor  diamond,  poetically 
called  the  "Mountain  of  Light."  We  cannot 
resist  the  impulse  to  stay  a  moment  to  speak 
of  this  remarkable  stone.  It  was  formerly  much 
larger  than  at  present,  having  been  cut  more 
than  once  by  the  art  of  the  jeweler  to  bring  out 
its  peerless  beauties.  In  size  and  shape  it 
resembles  the  pointed  half  of  a  small  hen's  egg. 
The  value  of  it  has  been  variously  estimated 
at  from  S2, 000,000  to  $10,000,000.  It  is  almost 
beyond  conception  that  such  an  insignificant 
pebble,  which  a  boy  might  carelessly  shy  at  a 
bird  should  have  a  valuation  like  this  or  should 
have  played  such  a  part  in  the  history  of  kings 
and  empires. 

Weird  and  occult  powers  have  been  attribu- 
ted to  diamonds,  and  among  the  ruder  peoples 
they  have  ever  been  held  in  a  profound  rever- 


22  ESHCOL 

ence.  Strange  and  unpropitious  events  have 
attended  on  their  possession,  and  poets  have 
made  them  the  subject  of  wild  and  fanciful 
imaginings.  The  Koh-i-noor  is,  beyond  every 
other  stone,  the  diamond  of  history  and 
romance. 

It  has  come  down  from  an  unkown  antiquity. 
The  fables  of  the  Hindoos  declare  that  it  be- 
longed to  the  gods  and  was  worn  by  their 
heroic  ancestors  more  that  5,000  years  ago.  Its 
history  coming  through  a  tragic  tangle  of  own- 
ership, has  ever  been  one  of  rapine  and  blood. 
The  Hindoo  believes  that  the  empire  of  India 
is  destined  to  its  possessor.  It  was  one  of  the 
chief  boasts  of  the  Emperors  at  Delhi.  They 
regarded  it  as  a  type  of  universal  sovereignty. 
But  it  has  always  in  the  East  been  an  ill-starred 
stone,  and  Indian  prophets  have  invariably 
foretold  the  downfall  of  the  dynasty  owning  it. 
No  mortal  eye  can  foresee  what  chapters, 
tragic  or  otherwise,  are  yet  to  be  written  re- 
specting this  bewitching  but  uncanny  stone. 
For  550  years  it  has  been  authentically  traced 
as  being  chief  among  the  hereditary  gems  of 
the  Rajahs  of  Central  India.  It  came  into  the 
Mogul  line  by  conquest  and  adorned  the  famous 
Peacock  Thone  of  the  Great  Mogul  at  Delhi, 
forming  one  of  the  eyes  of  that  celebrated  bird. 


DHULEEP  SINGH  23 

In  1739  Nadir,  a  Persian  Shah,  conquered  the 
Mogul  and  carried  off  the  coveted  stone  to 
Khorassan.  In  time  an  Afghan  prince  seized 
it,  and  from  him  it  came  by  force  and  strate- 
gem  into  the  hands  of  Runjit  Singh,  to  whom 
it  was  transferred  with  imposing  ceremonies 
and  he  ever  after  wore  it  in  a  bracelet  on  his 
arm.  On  his  death  bed  the  wily  priests  made 
strong  efforts  to  induce  him  to  present  the 
mighty  stone  to  the  famous  shrine  of  the  god 
Juggernaut.  But  the  crown  jeweler  refused  to 
give  it  up  and  in  due  time  it  came  into  the  hands 
of  the  English  government.  It  is  related  that 
Lord  John  Lawrence,  the  Enlish  envoy,  when 
the  transfer  was  made,  in  a  preoccupied  way, 
dropped  the  bauble  into  his  vest  pocket,  where 
it  remained  days  until,  horrified  at  his  careless- 
ness, he  found  it  and  committed  it  to  trusty 
hands  to  be  borne  to  England.  A  model  of  it 
may  be  seen  among  the  crown  jewels  in  the 
Tower  at  London,  but  the  stone  itself  is  jealousy 
guarded  at  Windsor  Castle. 

THE    MAHARAJAH   DHULEEP   SINGH. 

But  we  have  tarried  too  long  in  our  approach 
to  the  personal  history  of  the  Maharajah  Dhu- 
leep  Singh.  We  get  Qnly  one  or  two  glimpses  of 
his  boyhood.      In  the  political  confusion  which 


24  ESHCOL 

followed  the  death  of  his  father,  the  con- 
tending factions  each  issued  proclamations  in 
his  name.  At  a  great  national  festival  in  1837 
the  little  Maharajah  is  represented  as  doing 
the  honors  of  the  occasion  in  a  most  graceful 
manner.  A  British  war  correspondent,  who 
saw  him  four  years  after  when  the  fight  with 
the  English  was  still  on,  describes  him  as  "a 
mere  stripling,  wearing  a  white  camel's  hair 
jamee,  sitting  his  gray  Arab  horse  in  the 
midst  of  a  magnificent  staff,  looking  down  from 
the  Sikh  batteries  at  our  perpetually  renewed 
and  as  pereptually  frustrated  efforts  to  effect  a 
lodgment  on  the  west  bank  of  the  river." 

A   STROKE   OF  THE    SWORD   OF  THE    SPIRIT. 

But  we  now  come  to  the  vital  point  on  which 
turned  all  his  after-life.  At  the  age  of  eighteen 
we  find  him  at  Futteghur  living  in  semi-royal 
state,  surrounded  with  attendants,  among  whom 
was  a  guru,  who  was  expected  to  hold  him 
faithful  to  the  religion  of  his  fathers.  For  a 
companion  a  young  Hindoo  was  assigned  him, 
who,  although  not  a  Christian,  had  attended 
a  mission  school  at  Furruckabad,  and  had  pos- 
sessed himself  of  a  Bible  in  which  he  was  much 
interested. 


DHULEEP  SINGH  25 


"What  are  you  reading  so  much?"  said  the 
Prince  to  him  one  day. 

"It  is  the  Bible,  the  Englishmen's  sacred 
book,"  replied  his  companion,  putting  it  out  of 
sight. 

"Read  me  some  of  it,"  insisted  the  Prince. 

Turning  to  the  Gospel,  he  read,  as  it  is 
thought,  the  closing  scenes  in  the  life  of  Christ. 
Suddenly  looking  up,  he  saw  the  sensitive 
Prince  was  in  tears.  But  it  was  too  late. 
Contrary  to  all  plans  the  mischief  had  been 
wrought.  The  "true  Light  that  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world"  had  shined 
into  his  dark  soul.  Although  his  native  com- 
panion was  a  Hindoo  (and  remains  such  to 
this  day),  he  explained  to  him  further  the 
doctrines  as  he  had  learned  them  at  the  school. 
And  in  due  time,  deeply  moved,  and  doubtless 
having  had  other  instruction,  he  declared  him- 
self a  Christian,  and  sought  baptism  at  the 
hands  of  the  English  chaplain  of  the  post. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  no  direct  efforts  had 
been  made  to  reach  the  Prince  with  Christian 
influences.  But  it  has  ever  been  the  policy  of 
the  English  government  to  interfere  officially 
with  the  native  religions  only  so  far  as  to  re- 
press the  more  outrageous  and  revolting  rites, 
leaving  it  to  the  volunteer  efforts   of    mission- 


26  ESHCOL 

aries  to  present  the  claims  of  Christianity.  In 
earlier  days  even  Bishop  Heber,  the  author  of 
the  Missionary  Hymn,  declined  to  baptize  a 
Hindoo  convert,  on  the  ground  that  he  was 
officially  connected  with  the  government  as 
chaplain. 

The  occasion  of  his  baptism  was  a  day  of 
days  to  the  young  Prince.  In  a  letter  written 
at  the  time  and  quoted  in  the  "Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Magazine"  we  find  this  extract : 

"On  the  8th  of  March,  1853,  Dhuleep  Singh 
was  baptized  in  the  presence  of  all  the  servants 
of  his  retinue,  and  the  missionaries,  native 
Christians,  and  European  residents  at  the 
station.  He  was  clad  in  the  royal  costume  of 
his  country  and  when  he  took  off  his  jeweled 
turban  and  bowed  his  head  to  receive  the  rite 
of  baptism,  many  a  heart  offered  prayer  that 
he  might  have  grace  to  keep  his  solemn  vows." 

Works  followed  swift  upon  his  new  faith. 
Although  but  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  at  once 
began  to  found  relief  societies  at  Futteghur 
and  at  his  ancient  capital,  Lahore,  and  later 
he  sustained  a  large  number  of  mission  schools. 

A  transformation  so  sudden  and  complete 
can  scarcely  be  accounted  for  save  by  the 
mystery  of  the  New  Birth.  In  the  first  flush 
of  early  manhood,  he  was  leading  a  life  of  lux- 


DHULEEP  SINGH  27 


urious  idleness.  The  riot  of  a  fierce  and 
lustful  hereditary  heathenism,  coming  down 
through  many  generations,  was  coursing  in  his 
veins.  It  had  been  necessary  to  separate  him 
from  his  mother  that  he  might  be  remove  from 
the  influences  of  her  corrupt  example.  He  had 
the  means  and  the  opportunity  for  an  unbridled 
self  indulgence.  But  one  thrust  of  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit  radically  changed  all  this.  The 
supreme  miracle  had  been  wrought.  The  whole 
trend  of  his  life  was  turned  into  a  totally  new 
direction  and  he  became  a  humble  follower  of 
the  lowly  Jesus. 

Speaking  of  this  in  after  years  he  said,  "God 
has  deprived  me  of  an  earthly  kingdom,  but 
he  has  given  me  the  blessed  hope  of  a  heavenly 
one  by  my  conversion  to  Christianity." 

In  due  time  it  was  found  desirable  that  he, 
accompanied  by  his  mother — and  her  gold  im- 
ages, for  she  remained  an  idolator  to  the  end 
—  should  be  sent  to  England.  Here  he  took 
possession  of  his  immense  estate  of  16,000 
acres  which  the  government  had  granted  him, 
and  settled  down  in  the  capacity  of  a  quiet 
English  gentleman.  And  now  we  must  leave 
him  here  while  our  stor}'  transfers  itself  to 
totally  different  scenes  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile. 


THE  MAHARAJAH  DHULEEP  SINGH. 

Part  Second. 

the  maharanee. 

The  Cairo  of  forty  years  ago  was  a  very  dif- 
ferent city  from  that  which  the  modern  traveler 
sees.  It  is  described  "as  little  better  than  a 
labyrinth  of  tortuous  lanes,  narrow,  unpaved, 
and  continually  swept  with  clouds  of  dust 
blown  from  huge  mounds  of  rubbish  outside  the 
walls."  To  this  day  "most  of  the  houses  of  the 
poorer  classes  consist  of  miserable  mud  hovels, 
with  filthy  courts,  dilapidated  windows  and  tat- 
tered awnings." 

From  one  of  these  humble  dwellings,  having 
scarcely  simple  furnishing  or  comforts,  early  in 
the  sixties,  a  young  Coptic  maid,  veiled  doubt- 
less, but  bare-footed  and  carrying  her  simple 
midday  repast  of  boiled  rice  wrapped  in  a 
plantain  leaf,  threaded  her  way  for  miles 
through  these  tangled  lanes  and  presented  her- 
self at  the  door  of  a  small  and  crowded  mis- 
sion school-room.  Her  name  was  Bamba,  to 
which  was  added  that  of  her  father,  MuUer,  a 
28 


THE  M/iH/IR/INEE  29 

German  merchant  of  Alexandria,  who  seems 
to  have  furnished  the  humble  abode  which  she 
occupied  with  her  mother,  and  to  have  kept 
some  track  of  this  poor  woman  and  of  the 
daughter  which  had  been  born  to  them.  In 
some  manner  Bamba  had  already  learned  to 
read  and  was  in  possession  of  a  New  Testa- 
ment in  Arabic, — the  tongue  of  her  people, — 
but  of  whose  contents  she  knew  almost  noth- 
ing. She  was  received  at  the  school-room  with 
favor  and  speedily  won  her  way  into  the 
warmest  affections  of  her  teachers.  One  of 
them  writes: — "Her  sweet  thoughtful  face  and 
graceful  form,  united  to  a  quiet  dignity  pecu- 
liarly her  own,  were  very  marked,  and  excited 
an  interest  that  was  strengthened  day  by  day 
in  our  pleasing  relations  of  teacher  and  pupil." 
That  a  sweet  and  pure  soul  should  have  grown 
up  amid  such  most  unpromising  environments 
is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  Providence.  She 
had  indeed  a  home  with  the  only  parent  she 
knew  and  was  happy  in  her  love  and  compan- 
ionship. But  the  mother  seems  to  have  been 
an  ignorant  woman  of  the  lower  class,  if  not  a 
slave,  and  the  degradation  of  the  people  around 
her  was  not  exceeded  by  that  of  any  other 
Oriental  city. 

The  diseases  which  infested  the  people,  such 


30  ESHCOL 

as  the  plague,  ophthalmia  and  malignant  fevers, 
originating  in  its  "stifled  filth,"  and  which 
gave  it  a  higher  death-rate  than  that  of  any 
European  capital,  was  only  a  type  of  the  pes- 
tilential moral  conditions  which  lay  about  the 
path  of  this  young  maiden  whenever  she  set 
foot  beyond  the  threshold  of  her  home. 

But  nature  furnishes  its  parallels.  Out  of 
the  murky  bottoms  of  stagnant  pools,  which 
men  instinctively  shun,  where  live  snakes  and 
lizards  and  all  the  ugly  things  that  crawl, 
come  up  and  spread  themselves  out  to  the 
sun,  the  most  beautiful  lilies,  and  orchids, 
it  is  said,  can  be  found  only  where  malaria 
breeds  fever  and  almost  certain  death.  It  would 
seem  as  if  a  special  providence  had  watched 
over  her  from  the  beginning,  and  that  it  was 
now  already  preparing  her  for  the  remarkable 
position  to  which  she  was  soon  to  be  introduced. 

THE    BUD    UNFOLDS. 

Under  the  influence  of  tlie  school  and  of  its 
choice  teachers  her  mind  and  heart,  which  had 
been  shut  in  by  such  cramped  surroundings 
rapidly  unfolded,  and  the  question  of  all 
questions  soon  began  to  press  itself  upon  her 
awakened  soul  "What  shall  be  my  personal 
relations     to    the    Lord    Jesus     Christ?"     No 


THE  MAHAR/INEE  31 

thought  of  this  had  ever  come  to  her  from  the 
dead  service,  in  an  unknown  tongue,  of  the 
Coptic  church  in  which  she  had  been  reared. 
The  priests  themselves  were  vicious  and 
ignorant,  and  even  the  bishop  could  neither 
read  nor  write.  But  the  spiritual  aptitudes 
which  seemed  to  be  innate  in  this  singularly 
sincere  young  heart,  found  their  proper  food 
in  the  simple  truths  of  the  New  Testament. 
She  deeply  felt  the  need  of  a  divine  Savior. 
She  opened  her  heart  gladly  to  the  renewing 
power  of  the  Holy  spirit,  and  through  all  the 
afterlife  gave  most  satisfying  evidsnce  that  the 
great  work  of  regeneration  had  been  wrought 
in  her  soul.  The  joy  of  her  new-found  faith 
at  once  led  her  into  most  earnest  christian 
work.  Having  become  a  pupil  teacher,  she 
opened  a  prayer  meeting  with  the  thirty  younger 
scholars,  given  into  her  charge,  and  numbers 
of  these,  under  her  teaching  and  prayers,  came 
into  the  christian  fold. 

At  home  in  the  humble  mud  hovel  she 
kindled  the  fires  of  the  family  altar,  and  the 
mother,  dying  the  next  year  of  cholera,  gave 
evidence  of  a  renewed  heart. 

A   PRINCELY    STRANGER  APPEARS. 

In  the  midst    of    these    simple    and    gladly 


32  ESHCOL 

rendered  duties,  an  event  interposed  itself,  as 
strange  and  incomprehensible  to  her  as  if  an 
inhabitant  of  another  planet  had  suddenly 
dropped  into  her  path.  One  day  there  ap- 
peared in  the  school-room,  unannounced,  a 
young  Indian  prince.  "He  was  richly  arrayed 
in  the  costume  of  his  native  country  and  was 
bedecked  with  a  profusion  of  rare  jewels. "  It 
was  the  Maharajah  Dhuleep  Singh.  His  mother 
on  her  dying  bed  had  requested  him  to  take  her 
body  to  India  to  be  burned,  and  by  permission 
of  the  English  government,  specially  granted, 
for  he  was  prohibited  from  returning  to  his 
native  country,  he  was  on  his  way  to  perform 
that  last  sad  office.  The  sickness  of  a  servant 
had  detained  him  at  Cairo  for  a  time,  and  as 
he  was  interested  in  missionary  work,  he  made 
a  tour  of  the  highly  successful  mission  schools 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  church,  in  that 
city.  It  is  probable  that  Bamba  with  her  high 
sense  of  duty  was  so  occupied  in  keeping  her 
children  intent  upon  their  books  that  she  took 
little  notice  of  the  gorgeous  stranger.  Not  so 
the  prince.  From  the  moment  he  saw  her  he 
had  only  eyes  for  the  modest  but  womanly 
teacher,  and  upon  learning  that  she  was  a  con- 
vert, quietly  remarked:  "How  beautiful  to  see 
one  so  young  so  zealously  serving  Christ."  On 


THE  M/IHARANEE  33 

the  following  Sabbath  he  visited  the  mission 
Sunday-school  where  Bamba  as  usual  was  en- 
gaged. We  are  not  surprised  to  read  that  he 
"was  greatly  interested  in  the  varied  exercises 
of  the  hour." 

THE   DECLARATION. 

It  is  not  difficult  rightly  to  divine  what  were 
the  thoughts  of  the  prince  on  that  Sunday 
afternoon.  He  had  now  reached  the  full  prime 
of  early  manhood.  His  associations  were  with 
the  highest  ranks  of  English  society.  With  an 
ample  annuity  and  an  almost  regal  estate  it 
would  seem  that  he  had  all  that  heart  could 
wish.  There  were  not  wanting  high-born 
daughters  of  England  who  perhaps  would  not 
have  been  altogether  unmindful  of  an  offer  of 
a  share  in  his  fortunes  and  a  place  in  his 
heart.  But  he  had  continually  said  "I  am  an 
Oriental  and  I  want  an  Oriental  wife."  Was 
not  providence  now  about  to  realize  his  wish? 
Like  lovers  generally  it  doubtless  seemed  to 
him  that  it  was  a  special  interposition  that  had 
brought  him  to  Cairo  just  at  this  time  and  had 
so  unexpectedly  detained  him  in  his  journey. 
Here  was  the  attractive  Oriental  maiden,  and, 
what  was  equally  essential  to  him,  she  was  an 
earnest  Christian.     Whereupon  he  was  not  dis- 


34  ESHCOL 

obedient  to  what  seemed  to  him  a  heavenly 
vision  and  that  evening  dispatched  a  letter  to 
the  missionaries  saying  that  he  would  call  on 
the  following  morning.  There  was  great  sur- 
prise and  then  long  and  anxious  deliberation, 
not  without  prayer,  when  the  prince  had  made 
known  his  wishes  and  had  asked  that  through 
them  he  might  propose  to  Bamba  to  become 
his  wife.  It  was  a  great  responsibility.  She 
was  so  young  and  so  utterly  unacquainted  with 
the  ways  of  the  great  world. 

Useful  and  happy  in  her  work,  might  it  not 
turn  the  head  of  the  unsophisticated  child  to 
have  such  sudden  splendor  burst  upon  her. 
But  it  was  finally  determined  that  the  lady 
teacher  who  had  been  her  special  friend  from 
the  beginning  should  break  the  matter  to  her 
as  wisely  and  gently  as  she  could. 

Meanwhile  Bamba  "in  maiden  meditation 
fancy  free,"  into  whose  sincere  and  simple 
heart  no  shadow  of  a  dream  had  come  of  what 
was  awaiting  her,  obeyed  the  summons  of  her 
teacher  and  came  to  her  room.  It  was  a  pict- 
ure which  the  highest  genius  might  well  de- 
sire to  catch  and  throw  upon  the  canvas,  —  the 
simple  and  sincere-hearted  girl  sitting  at  the 
feet  of  her  teacher,  her  arms  resting  upon  her 
knee  and  looking  up  with  wide  open  and  won- 


THE  MAHARAhtEE  35 

dering  eyes  as  the  astonishing  message  was 
quietly  unfolded  to  her.  It  might  be  expected 
that  she  would  be  dazed,  if  not  confounded, 
by  the  amazing  announcement,  but  on  the  con- 
trary, as  soon  as  the  teacher  paused  for  a  reply 
she  quickly  and  resolutely  said:  "I  do  not 
wish  to  marry.  I  wish  to  serve  Christ  in  the 
school."  And  to  a  further  and  fuller  expla- 
nation of  the  matter  she  only  persistently  made 
the  same  reply.  But  at  last  as  her  mind  more 
fully  grasped  the  situation,  in  response  to  the 
appeal  that  this  might  be  the  voice  of  God 
calling  her  to  a  higher  sphere  of  usefulness, 
she  said,  "I  will  pray  much  over  it,  and  if 
God  shows  it  to  be  his  will  that  I  should 
marry  I  will  do  so."  "But,"  she  added  inno- 
cently, "I  do  not  think  it  will  be  his    will!" 

The  Maharajah  was  greatl)'  moved  at  the 
result  of  this  interview,  but  it  only  increased 
his  respect  and  love  for  Bamba.  Leaving  a 
costly  bracelet  and  a  ring  for  her,  with  the  re- 
quest that,  whether  she  consented  to  his  wishes 
or  not,  she  would  wear  them  for  his  sake,  he 
soon  departed  for  Bombay,  providing,  however, 
that  if  there  was  a  favorable  issue  he  should 
be  informed  at  the  earliest  moment. 

It  sometimes  happens,  under  the  pressure 
of  a  great  question,  that    the    growth  of  year? 


36  ESHCOL 

is  compressed  into  the  measure  of  a  few  weeks. 
Like  the  flower  stalk  of  a  century  plant  Bamba 
speedily  shot  up  from  an  unsophisticated  girl 
and  opened  out  into  an  appreciative  and  sen- 
sible woman.  The  momentous  question  which 
had  thus  suddenly  dropped  into  her  life,  one 
that  could  not  be  delayed  or  evaded,  was  con- 
tinually taken  to  the  Lord  in  earnest  and  be- 
lieving prayer.  Under  the  enlightenment  thus 
received  she  came  at  length  to  feel  that  the 
new  way  opening  before  her  was  God's  way, 
and  she  signified  her  acceptance. 

DISCOVERY    OF  A    FATHER. 

Being  released  from  the  school,  one  of  the 
teachers  was  deputed  to  take  her  in  special 
charge,  teaching  her  English  and  giving  her 
some  idea  of  the  amenities  of  the  high  station  to 
which  she  was  soon  to  be  called.  Her  father,  hav- 
ing years  before  married  an  English  lady,  with 
the  full  consent  of  his  wife,  recognized  her 
among  his  children,  and  invited  her  to  his  home, 
where,  attended  by  her  faithful  teacher,  for 
the  intervening  weeks  her  education  and  the 
preparation  for  the  wedding  went  on.  A  very 
touching  scene  was  enacted  at  her  father's  house 
on  the  day  of  her  arrival.  After  the  evening 
repast  the  teacher    said,    "We    have  been    in 


THE  MAH/IR/iNEE  37 

the  habit  of  having  prayers  together  and  with 
your  permission  we  will  not  omit  it  now." 
She  then  read  a  passage  from  the  Arabic  Bible 
and  all  kneeling  Bamba  led  in  prayer.  Ac- 
customed to  open  her  whole  heart  to  the  Lord, 
with  great  feeling  she  innocently  poured  out 
her  thanksgivings  that  she  had  at  last  found 
her  father  and  her  brothers  and  sisters.  The 
whole  circle  were  deeply  moved  and  as  they 
rose  from  their  knees  her  father  threw  his  arms 
about  her  and  embraced  her  with  the  utmost 
tenderness. 

Fortunately  the  pens  of  the  cultivated  teach- 
ers who  had  watched  over  Bamba's  unfolding 
give  us  glimpses  here  and  there  of  the  pro- 
gress of  events  both  before  the  marriage  and 
in  the  later  years  of  her  life.  To  these  we 
are  indebted  for  the  larger  part  of  the  facts 
here  recorded. 

In  about  two  months  the  Maharajah  returned 
bringing  "an  almost  endless  variety  of  the 
choicest  jewelry"  for  Bamba.  Although  she 
could  not  appreciate  their  rare  beauty  and 
value,  she  modestly  admired  them,  adorning 
herself  with  only  a  few,  but  in  exquisite  taste. 
"Speaking  of  her  jewels  sometime  after,  as  she 
twirled  her  fingers  in  the  sparkling  chain  about 
her  neck,  she  said,    'How    thankful  I    am  that 


88  ESHCOL 

the  love  of  Jesus  was  first  put  into  my  heart, 
otherwise  I  might  think  too  much  of  these 
things  which  are  as  dust  compared  with  that.'" 

COURTSHIP  UNDER  DIFFICULTIES. 

It  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  life  how  the 
gentle  entanglement  of  these  two  hearts  went 
on,  for  he  understood  only  English,  and  she 
only  Arabic.  But  the  customs  of  the  country 
of  each  require  a  "go-between,"  and  the  wise 
and  trusted  teacher  could  easily  make  smooth 
the  path  of  their  true  love.  Some  one  who 
evidently  kept  a  diary  and  who  was  fond  of 
being  strictly  accurate  in  his  facts  records  this: 
"Prince  Dhuleep  Singh  visited  the  mission 
schools  for  the  first  time  on  the  nth  of  Feb- 
ruary 1864,  and  proceeded  to  India  on  the  29th 
of  the  same  month;  he  returned  to  Egypt  on 
the  29th  of  April,  and  on  the  7th  of  June  was 
united  in  marriage  to  one  of  the  daughters  of 
our  Cairo  mission."  The  civil  service  took  place 
in  the  British  consulate  at  Alexandria.  The  re- 
ligious ceremony  was  solemnized  at  the  house 
of  the  bride's  father  by  one  of  the  missionaries, 
Dr.  Hogg.  "Dhuleep  Singh,"  said  the  papers 
of  the  day,  "wore  European  costume,  excepting 
a  tarbush.  "The  bride's  dress  was  also  Euro- 
pean."   "She  wore  but  few  jewels, — a  necklace 


THE  MAHARANEE  39 

of  fine  pearls,  and  a  bracelet  set  with  diamonds 
being  her  only  ornaments!"  The  next  week  in 
her  first  call  as  a  bride  on  her  beloved  teachers 
she  placed  in  their  hands,  from  the  prince,  for 
the  use  of  the  mission,  a  check  for  '$5,000,  a 
gift,  which  he  repeated  on  every  anniversary 
of  their  marriage  for  the  sixteen  following 
years.  And  then  in  due  time  Bamba,  with  her 
Maharajah,  as  if  she  were  passing  out  of  the 
real  world  which  she  had  always  known  into 
some  strange  dreamland,  sailed  over  the  great 
sea  to  the  distant  England. 

THE  MAHARANEE   IN   ENGLAND. 

Here  the  gentle  Maharanee,  partly  because 
of  her  romantic  story,  but  more  by  her  self 
possession;  the  good  sense  and  quick  appre- 
ciation with  which  she  adapted  herself  to  the 
forms  and  courtesies  of  the  most  refined  life; 
by  her  imperfectly  acquired  but  quaint  Eng- 
lish; but  above  all  by  her  unaffected  goodness 
and  piety  won  her  way  at  once  to  the  hearts 
of  the  Queen  and  the  noble  ladies  with  whom 
she  now  came  into  almost  constant  association. 

The  rapidity  with  which  these  events  march 
before  us  almost  takes  one's  breath  away.  In 
three  brief  months  the  humble  Coptic  maiden 
is  removed  from  her  poor  hut  on   a    miserable 


40  ESHCOL 

street  of  Cairo  and  becomes  the  mistress  of  a 
princely  mansion  in  a  noble  English  park.  And 
she  who  was  a  charity  scholar  in  a  mission 
school  comes  into  the  presence  of  royalty  and 
on  state  occasions,  as  the  wife  of  a  prince, 
stands  next  to  the  Queen. 

A  NILE   PICTURE. 

There  are  storms  ahead  as  well  as  sunshine 
in  the  path  of  this  narration,  and  for  the  re 
mainder  of  the  way  it  must  hasten  its  pace. 
We  cannot  refrain,  however,  from  quoting  en- 
tire a  picture  of  the  happy  life  of  these  persons 
two  years  later.  The  prince  and  his  Maharanee 
are  revisiting  the  scenes  of  their  courtship  and 
marriage:  "It  was  on  the  Sabbath;  Bamba  had 
been  up  to  the  mission  house  to  attend  morning 
service,  and  was  riding  down  the  bank  of  the 
Nile  on  a  richly  saddled  donkey  to  join  her 
husband  on  the  boat.  He  helped  her  on  board 
with  great  gallantry,  brought  up  from  the  sa- 
loon an  easy  chair,  which  he  placed  for  her 
under  the  awning,  and,  as  we  viewed  the  scene 
from  our  boat,  a  picture  was  presented  which 
I  can  never  forget.  Dhuleep  stood  conversing 
with  his  wife  in  the  kindest  and  most  affable 
manner.  In  the  background  was  the  yellow 
old  Nile  bank,  with  a    few  palm    trees;  while 


THE  MAHARANEE  41 


beyond  rose  through  the  lurid  air  the  great 
pyramids,  whose  solemn  majesty  is  the  same 
that  looked  down  on  Joseph  and  his  brethren. 
The  surroundings  were  worthy  the  strange, 
romantic  history  of  Dhuleep  and  his  wife." 

Upon  their  return  to  England  the  use  of  this 
boat — named  the  Ibis — which  belonged  to  the 
prince,  was  freely  given  to  the  mission.  A 
little  later  it  was  made  over  to  them  in  full 
ownership,  and  now  for  thirty  years  it  has  car 
ried  up  and  down  the  Nile  from  Damietta  to 
Assouan,  devoted  men  and  women,  distributing 
the  Word,  establishing  schools  and  preaching 
the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom. 

ELVEDON   HALL. 

The  almost  royal  estate  granted  the  Mahara- 
jah  is  called  Elvedon  Hall.  It  is  nearThetford, 
Suffolk  County,  about  go  miles  from  London 
and  near  the  extensive  grounds  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales  at  Sandringham.  The  house  is  a 
noble  mansion.  There  for  a  number  of  years 
went  on  a  most  beautiful  family  life.  The 
cares  of  her  exalted  station  did  not  hinder  the 
Maharanee  from  taking  a  special  interest  in 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  her  servants.  She  per- 
sonally ministered  to  the  sick  and  needy  of 
their  tenantry  and  a  class  of  village  boys  came 


42  ESHCOL 

to  her  on  the  Sabbath  for  Bible  lessons.  Their 
"Chaplain,"  himself  a  man  of  singular  piety, 
said,  "I  have  never  met  one  so  spiritually 
minded.  Her  influence  in  her  home  and  in  the 
parish  cannot  be  over-estimated."  And  the 
prince,  rejoicing  in  her  gracious  life  and  godly 
walk,  declared,  "I  thank  God  every  day  for 
my  wife."  Missionaries  from  Egypt  and  from 
India  who  were  the  almoners  of  his  bounty, 
were  frequent  visitors  at  this  home  and  were 
always  most  cordially  welcomed. 

On  one  such  occasion  the  dining  table  was 
found  spread  with  a  service  of  gold,  the  prince 
apologizing  said  it  was  not  for  the  sake  of 
ostentation,"  but  was  in  memory  of  his  mother 
whose  idols  he  had  caused  to  be  melted  and 
moulded  into  this  table  service."  He  thought 
that  nothing  could  be  more  appropriate  than 
that  it  should  be  spread  for  the  use  of  missiona- 
ries.The  daily  family  worship  enlisted  the  whole 
household.  The  six  chambermaids,  each  with 
the  white  badge  of  service  on  her  head  and  with 
Bible  in  hand,  respectfully  stood  until  the 
family  and  the  guests  were  seated,  and  the 
Maharajah  joined  most  heartily  in  the  service. 

Three  sons  and  three  daughters  were  born 
into  this  household.  It  gives  a  hint  of  their 
intimacy  with  the  royal  family  to  know  that  at 


THE  M/IHARANEE  43 

the  baptism  of  Victor  Albert,  the  eldest  of 
the  sons,  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales 
stood  as  godfather  and  godmother,  and  that 
the  Queen  herself  acted  as  godmother  to  more 
than  one  of  the  other  children.  But  the  mother 
gave  over  to  no  other  hands  the  care  for  the 
souls  of  these  dear  ones.  She  carried  them 
continually  in  the  arms  of  her  faith,  and  sed- 
uously  taught  them  the  way  of  life. 

A    SERPENT    ENTERS    PARADISE. 

And  so  the  happy  years  went  by. 

But  into  this  home,  as  near  an  earthly  para- 
dise as  few  families  are  permitted  to  en- 
joy, the  trail  of  the  serpent  began  to  appear, 
and  there  followed  a  sad  train  of  misfortune 
and  woe.  Our  hand  refuses  to  draw  aside  the 
veil  which  hides  the  trying  scenes  of  the  later 
years.  Only  glimpses  revealed  in  the  white 
light  of  charity  can  be  given. 

"Pride,  fullness  of  bread  and  abundance  of 
idleness"  are  the  bane  of  the  British  aristoc- 
racy. It  has  furnished  not  a  few  of  the  noblest 
specimens  of  Christian  manhood  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  But  through  the  curtain  with  which 
what  is  called  the  highest  circle  hides  itself, 
there  now  and  then  break  rumors  of  scandals 
which,   if  true,   ought  to  bring     into  permanent 


44  ESHCOL 

and  utter  disgrace  those  concerned  in  them. 
Into  this  circle  the  prince  was  freely  admitted 
and  here  he  had  his  chief  associations.  If  the 
estate  furnished  him  had  been  further  away 
from  Sandringham  the  case  might  have  been 
different.  But  what  wonder,  if  some  of  those, 
set  about  with  the  gathered  safeguards  of 
many  Christian  generations,  and  upon  whom 
lay  the  highest  motives  to  integrity  and  noble 
living,  should  fall  "into  temptation,  and  a 
snare,  and  into  many  foolish  and  hurtful  lusts, " 
— what  wonder  that  this  converted  heathen 
prince,  with  a  most  vicious  heredity  behind 
him,  flattered  by  the  companionship  and  se- 
duced by  the  example  of  those  who  stood  not 
far  from  the  highest  places  in  this  Christian 
kingdom  should  be  drawn  into  games  of  chance 
and  into  the  attendant  evils  until  the  moral 
force  broke  down  and  for  the  time  the  old  bar- 
baric instincts  came  into  play. 

How  the  sad  truth  broke  upon  the  unsuspect- 
ing Maharanee  cannot  be  known.  But  to  the 
quick  eye  of  the  loving  wife,  that  a  change 
was  coming  about  could  not  long  be  concealed. 
There  can  be  known  only  to  the  Omniscient 
Mind,  the  prayers,  the  tears,  the  entreaties 
upon  the  one  side;  the  repentings,  the  con- 
fessions, the  resolves  upon  the  other,  through 
which  the  downward  course  kept  on. 


> 


THE  MAHARANEE  45 

BACCARAT. 

The  finances  of  the  estate  fell  into  confu- 
sion. Debts  accumulated.  Through  the  vicious 
necromancy  of  baccarat,  the  funds  that  should 
have  kept  the  Maharajah's  credit  sound  were 
transferred  to  the  coffers  of  those  who  were 
bound  by  every  principle  of  honor  to  protect 
the  interests  of  this  Indian  prince — he,  who 
while  still  a  youth  had  given  over  to  the  Eng- 
lish government  his  kingdom  with  its  rich  rev- 
enues for  this  stipend  which  was  now  being, 
vampire  like,  slowly  sucked  out  of  him. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  in  such  circumstances 
a  deep  sense  of  wrong  and  injustice  done  him 
entered  the  heart  of  the  prince  ;  that,  brought 
up  to  believe  himself  heir  of  the  Throne  of  the 
Five  Rivers,  he  should  have  asked  for  a  read- 
justment of  his  claims;  that  he  should  even 
have  demanded  a  restoration  of  his  kingdom, 
which  had  been  bartered  away  from  him  while 
he  was  a  mere  youth,  and  the  return  of  the 
Koh-i-noor  diamond  which  had  somehow,  in 
the  transfer  found  its  way  from  the  treasure 
house  of  the  Punjab  King  into  that  of  the 
Queen  of  England. 

Of  course  these  claims  received  no  attention. 
What  could  this  quasi-captive  do  against  the 
might     of    Great  Britain!      It    may  have    been 


46  ESHCOL 

wrong — certainly  it  had  great  mitigations — but 
it  is  not  surprising  that  a  strong  passion  of 
enmity  and  revenge  came  upon  him ;  that  he 
should  have  publicly  declared  himself  "Eng- 
land's implacable  foe;"  that  he  should  have 
renounced  Christianity,  alleging  that  he  could 
not  be  in  connection  with  a  religion  or  identi- 
fied with  a  government  that  could  tolerate  his 
wrongs;  that  he  should  have  thrown  himself 
into  the  arms  of  Russia,  and  that  he  should 
have  started  for  India,  probably  with  some 
vague  idea  of  a  revolution.  Of  course  the  gov- 
ernment turned  back  his  steamer  at  Aden.  Rus- 
sia could  not  make  him  available  for  her  pur- 
poses, and  so,  baffled  and  broken  in  spirit,  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  Paris  where  he  still 
lives. 

SIGNS     OF  HOPE. 

We  go  back  now  for  a  little  time  to  the  sad 
home  at  Elvedon  Hall.  The  prince  having 
gone  into  exile,  leaving  his  family  unprovi- 
ded for,  they  were  tenderly  looked  after  by 
their  royal  friends.  The  Maharanee  broken 
in  health  by  the  sudden  and  violent  change 
which  had  fallen  upon  the  once  happy  home, 
never  lost  her  hold  upon  the  Infinite  hand.  She 
wrestled  much  in  prayer  for    the  absent  prince 


THE  MAHARANEE  47 


and  with  an  unfaltering  faith  to  her  dying  day  be- 
lieved that  he  would  yet  be  restored,  if  not  to 
the  kingdom  which  he  vainly  sought,  to  citi- 
zenship in  the  Kingdom  of  God.  And  it  is  per- 
mitted others  to  join  her  in  this  faith.  The 
venerable  and  now  sainted  Dr.  Lansing,  senior 
missionary  at  Cairo,  always  cherished  the  belief 
that  the  prince  would  be  reclaimed  to  the  faith 
and  life  of  the  Gospel.  He  and  his  wife,  with 
an  officer  of  the  Mission  Board,  a  letter  from 
whom  now  lies  before  us,  in  the  summer  of 
1882  spent  some  days  at  the  little  less  than 
royal  residence,  Elvedon  Hall.  "Each  morning 
and  evening,"  the  letter  runs,  "at  the  Maha- 
rajah's request  we  had  family  worship.  All  the 
household  were  present,  the  Maharajah,  Bamba, 
all  their  children  and  all  their  domestics.  It 
was  a  most  reverent  and  attentive  company 
and  none  were  more  deeply  affected  than  the 
Maharajah  himself."  "A  year  ago  last  fall," 
the  letter  continues,  "one  of  our  missionaries 
called  on  him  in  Paris  and  had  a  most  interest- 
ing and  affecting  interview  with  him.  And 
looking  at  all  that  was  said  by  the  Maharajah 
he  feels  that  notwithstanding  all  that  has  oc- 
curred, he  is  a  subject  of  saving  grace."  We 
cannot  but  believe  in  the  prayers  of  the  de- 
parted Maharanee.   She  was    a  princess  among 


48  ESHCOL 

men  and  she  had  power  with  God  and  pre- 
vailed. In  all  his  wild  passion  there  is  little 
doubt  but  that  down  deep  in  his  heart  still 
remained  the  loving  influence  of  Bamba.  Even 
after  his  affairs  had  become  embarrassed  he 
offered  to  borrow  money  to  continue  the  gift 
of  $5,000,  which  for  so  many  years,  as  a  token 
of  his  grateful  love,  he  had  annually  g;ven  to 
the  mission  where  he  had  found  his  wife.  And 
now  we  read  in  the  report  of  the  Mission 
Board  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  for 
1892  this  item  :  "In  a  most  generous  spirit 
His  Highness,  The  Maharajah  Dhuleep  Singh 
contributed  during  the  year  ^2,000,  ($10,000)  to 
our  missionary  work."  It  is  even  reported  that 
repentant,  he  has  become  reconciled  to  the 
English  government  and  has  been  restored  to 
his  former  estate. 

THE   GATEWAY    OF   HEAVEN, 

But  we  anticipate  the  closing  scenes  at  El- 
vedon  Hall.  In  her  declining  health  Bamba, 
clinging  to  her  early  love,  sent  an  earnest  re- 
quest to  her  teacher.  Miss  Dale,  who  had  now 
become  Mrs.  Lansing,  to  visit  her.  "On  reach- 
ing London,"  this  lady  writes,  "we  were  much 
grieved  to  find  her  so  much  changed — a  mere 
wreck  of  her  former    self,  but  still  the  loving. 


THE  MAHARANEE  49 

hopeful,  trusting  Bamba  of  earlier  days."  A 
change  for  the  winter  to  the  more  genial  skies 
of  her  na<"ive  land,  with  her  younger  children, 
was  suggested.  In  the  possibility  of  this  she 
was  greatly  elated  and  said  with  much  enthu- 
siasm, "It  is  such  a  beautiful  idea;  it  will  be 
so  delightful  to  go  to  Egypt  again!"  But  the 
gates  of  a  more  beautiful  country  were  already 
ajar.  A  fuller  life-giving  river  than  any  earthly 
Nile  was  waiting  to  bless  her  weary  eyes.  It 
was  a  gracious  providence  that  three  days 
after,  as  she  lay  dying,  the  arms  of  the  same 
teacher  who  had  been  her  trusted  friend  in  her 
wonderful  experiences  at  Cairo,  encircled  her 
in  the  supreme  moment  and  handed  her  depart- 
ing spirit  on  into  the  company  of  the  Celestials  ! 

In  the  little  cemetery  surrounding  the  chap- 
el at  Elvedon,  "beneath  the  shadows  of  the 
wide  spreading  trees  that  adorn  the  beautiful 
grounds,"  they  gently  laid  her  away  in  her 
last  resting  place  to  await  the  resurrection. 
"Among  the  lovely  floral  wreaths  that  lay  in 
such  profusion  upon  her  casket  were  several 
from  the  Royal  family,  the  Queen,  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Wales,  and  the  youg  prin- 
cesses, silent  but  sweetly  fitting  tributes  to  un- 
obtrusive worth." 

But  this  narrative    must   close.     We  cannot 


50  ESHCOL 

refrain  from  asking  as  its  final  word,  what  was 
the  power  that  held  this  woman  steady  and 
strong  upon  the  wild  sea  of  her  strange  for- 
tunes? Something  was  due  doubtless  to  native 
endowments.  But  the  secret  of  all  was,  that, 
in  the  beginning  of  her  new  life,  she  went  over, 
wholly  and  irrevocably,  with  all  the  forces  of 
her  affections  and  purposes,  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  "Do  you  love  my  Jesus!"  was  the  ques- 
tion that  never  failed  to  tremble  on  her  lips 
as  she  conversed  with  the  noble  ladies  that 
sought  her  acquaintance.  Through  daily  study 
of  the  Word,  and  constant  communings  with 
the  Lord,  his  will  became  her  will,  and  in  the 
full  sense  of  His  abiding  presence  she  stood 
unmoved  by  the  pomp  and  circumstance  that 
surrounded  her,  and  looked  modestly  but  un- 
abashed into  the  face  of  royalty. 

And  now  she  looks  upon  the  King  eternal 
in  his  beauty.  It  may  be  that  when  the  trans- 
action is  weighed  in  the  celestial  balances,  it 
will  appear  that  the  ancient  and  priceless  dia- 
mond worn  by  the  British  Queen  belonged  up- 
on her  modest  brow.  But  it  matters  not. 
Living  she  was  ever  adorned  with  "the  orna- 
ment of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  which  is  in 
the  sight  of  God  of  great  price."  And  now 
sainted  and  glorified,  she  herself  is  a  resplend- 
ent jewel  in  the  diadem  of  the  King  of  Kings. 


FOUR    MEMORABLE    YEARS  AT    HILO. 

THE   PARISH   AND   THE    PEOPLE. 

A  strip  of  island  sea-coast  from  one  to  three 
miles  wide,  and  a  hundred  long,  dotted  with 
groves,  and  seamed  across  by  the  deep  chasms 
of  mountain  torrents;  behind  this,  for  twenty- 
five  miles,  a  belt  of  impervious  jungle,  fencing 
in,  since  the  days  of  Vancouver,  numberless 
herds  of  wild  cattle;  beyond,  in  the  interior, 
a  rough,  volcanic  wilderness,  culminating  in 
a  summit  14,000  feet  in  height — a  chaos  of 
craters,  some  on  the  peaks  of  mountains,  and 
some  yawning  suddenly  before  you  in  the  for- 
est, some  long  idle,  some  ceaselessly  active, 
making  the  night  lurid  with  their  flames  and 
still  building  at  the  unfinished  island;  one, 
a  vast,  fiery  hollow,  three  miles  across,  the 
grandest  lava  caldron  on  the  globe;  15,000  na- 
tives scattered  up  and  down  the  sea  belt, 
grouped  in  villages  of  from  100  to  300  persons, 
a  vicious,  sensual,  shameless  and  yet  tractable 
people,  slaves  to  the  chiefs,  and  herding  to- 
51 


53  ESHCOL 

gether  almost  like  animals — to  this  parish,  a 
strange  mingling  of  crags  and  valleys,  of  tor- 
rents and  volcanoes,  of  beauty  and  barrenness, 
and  to  this  people,  a  race  of  thieves,  drunk- 
ards and  adulterers,  sixty  years  ago,  was  called 
the  young  missionary,  Rev.  Titus  Coan.  And 
here,  for  four  memorable  years,  went  on  a 
work  of  grace  scarcely  paralleled  elsewhere 
since  the  days  of  Pentecost. 

This  parish,  long  and  narrow,  occupies  the 
eastern  third  of  the  shore  belt  of  Hawaii.  It 
comprises  two  districts — Puna,  stretching  off 
toward  the  south  in  black  lava  fields,  with  here 
and  there  a  patch  of  verdure,  and  a  cluster  of 
cabins,  and  Hilo,  on  the  north,  a  fertile  tract, 
but  exceedingly  rough.  The  central  point  is 
Hilo  Bay,  which  opens  out  to  the  Pacific  to- 
ward the  east  and  north.  Some  leaven  of  the 
gospel  had  already  been  cast  into  this  lump  of 
heathenism.  Different  missionaries  had  resided 
here  for  brief  periods.  Several  schools  had 
been  established^  and  about  one  fourth  of  the 
natives  could  read.  Rev.  D.  B.  Lyman  and 
wife,  most  efficient  co-laborers  with  Mr.  Coan, 
were  already  on  the  ground.  There  had  been 
a  marked  change  in  the  mental  condition  of 
the  natives.  A  little  knowledge  of  divine  truth 
— about  as  much,  perhaps,  as  our  street  Arabs 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  53 

possess — was  had  by  most  of  the  people.  There 
were  a  few  hopeful  converts,  and  a  little 
church  of  thirty-six  members  had  been  formed. 

A  BEGINNING. 

After  a  voyage  of  just  six  months  around 
Cape  Horn,  Mr.  Coan  reached  the  islands 
June  6,  1835,  and  at  once  engaged  in  the 
work. 

To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyman  came  the  charge  of 
a  boarding  school,  and  much  other  labor  at  the 
home  station,  while  to  Mr.  Coan,  robust  in 
health,  and  fervid  as  a  speaker,  the  preaching 
and  the  touring  naturally  fell.  His  mental 
force  and  abounding  physical  life  revealed 
themselves  at  the  outset.  In  three  months' 
time  he  began  to  speak  in  the  native  tongue, 
and  before  the  year  closed  he  had  made  the 
circuit  of  the  island,  a  canoe  and  foot  trip  of 
300  miles.  On  this  first  tour,  occupying  thirty 
days,  he  nearly  suffered  shipwreck,  or  rather 
canoe-wreck,  as  also  twice  afterward;  he 
preached  forty-three  times  in  eight  days,  ten 
of  them  in  two  days,  examined  twenty  schools 
and  more  than  1,200  scholars,  conversed  per- 
sonally with  multitudes,  and  ministered  to 
many  sick  persons,  for  he  was,  in  a  mild  way, 
a  physician  withal.      A    letter  of    his,    written 


54  ESHCOL 

at  that  time,  says  also:  "I  have  a  daily  school 
of  ninety  teachers,  and  Mrs.  C.  one  of  140 
children,  besides  a  large  class  of  more  advanced 
pupils." 

This  vigorous  beginning,  however,  was  but 
the  prelude  to  the  more  incessant  labor  and  to 
the  marvelous  scenes  of    the  years    following. 

When  God  has  a  great  work  for  his  servants, 
he  usually  gives  them  some  special  training 
for  it.  Mr.  Coan  was  a  townsman  and  cousin 
of  Nettleton.  In  his  early  ministry  he  was  a 
co-laborer  with  Finney.  He  had  seen  God's 
Word  in  the  hands  of  these  men  be  as  a  fire 
and  a  hammer.  He  had  learned  what  truths 
to  use,  and  how  to  press  men  to  immediate 
repentance,  and  he  had  witnessed  many  con- 
versions. Before  he  went  to  the  Islands  his 
spiritual  nature  was  charged  with  the  divine 
electricity  of  a  revival  atmosphere.  An  ex- 
ploring tour  in  Patagonia,  where  he  had  been 
sent  by  the  Board,  and  where  he  lived  for  sev- 
eral months,  on  horseback  with  savage  nomads, 
had  compacted  his  frame  and  inured  him  to 
hardship.  Who  shall  say  that  the  natives  were 
not  also  in  some  sort  trained  for  what  was 
to  follow?  May  it  not  be  that  there  was  an 
educating  power  in  the  volcanoes  near  which 
they  lived?  They  were  the    frequent  witnesses 


FOUR  MEMOR/iBLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  55 

of  grand  and  terrible  sights — the  shudder  of 
earthquakes,  the  inflowing  of  great  tidal  waves, 
the  dull  red  glow  of  lava  streams,  the  leaping 
of  fire  cataracts  into  deep  lying  pools,  send- 
ing off  the  water  in  steam,  and  burning  them 
dry  in  a  night  time.  There  was  no  day  when 
the  smoke-breath  of  subterranean  furnaces  was 
out  of  their  sight.  Once  they  traced  a  river 
of  lava  burrowing  its  way  to  the  sea,  1,500  feet 
below  the  surface,  and  saw  it  break  over  the 
shore  cliff  and  leap  into  the  hissing  waves. 
Once  from  their  loftiest  mountain,  a  pillar  of 
fire  200  feet  through,  lifted  itself,  for  three 
weeks,  1,000  feet  into  the  air,  making  dark- 
ness day  for  a  hundred  miles  around,  and  leav- 
ing as  its  monument  a  vast  cone  a  mile  in  cir- 
cumference. 

The  people  who  were  familiar  with  such 
scenes  could  understand  at  least  what  Sinai 
meant,  and  what  are  ''the  terrors  of  the  Lord." 

A   SOUND    OF   GOING    IN    THE    MULBERRY   TREES, 

There  were  signs  of  unusual  attention  to  the 
truth  on  Mr.  Coan's  first  tour,  the  latter  part 
of  1835. 

"Multitudes  flocked  to  hear/' — we  quote  from 
our  pencilings  of  frequent  interviews,  and 
from  his  letters  to  the  Board — "many    seemed 


56  ESHCOL 

pricked  in  their  hearts."  "I  had  literally  no 
leisure,  so  much  as  to  eat."  "One  morning  I 
found  myself  constrained  to  preach  three  times 
before  breakfast,  which  I  took  at  ten  o'clock. " 
He  could  not  move  out  of  doors  without  be- 
ing thronged  by  people  from  all  quarters.  The}'^ 
stationed  themselves  in  small  companies  by 
the  wayside,  and  some  followed  him  for  days 
from  village  to  village  to  hear  the  gospel. 
Much  of  this,  doubtless,  was  surface  excite- 
ment or 'the  mere  curiosity  of  an  idle  people. 
But  some  of  it,  as  the  event  proved,  was  the 
working  of  a  divine  leaven. 

The  tours  of  1836 — he  was  accustomed  to 
make  four  or  five  a  year — revealed  that  the 
work  was  deepening.  "I  began  to  see  tokens 
of  interest  that  I  did  not  talk  about,  that  I 
scarcely  understood  myself.  I  would  say  to 
my  wife  on  returning,  'The  people  turned  out 
wonderfully.'  More  and  more  came  to  the 
meetings  and  crowded  around  me  afterward  to 
inquire  the  way.  I  preached  just  as  hard 
as  I  could.  There  was  a  fire  in  my  bones,  I 
felt  like  bursting.  I  must  preach  to  this  peo- 
ple." 

A   TWO   years'    camp-meeting. 

In  1837  the  great  interest  broke  out  openly. 
It  was  the  time  of  a  wonderful  stir  through  all 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  57 

the  Islands.  Nearly  the  whole  population  of 
Hilo  and  Puna  turned  out  to  hear  the  Word. 
The  sick  and  lame  were  brought  on  litters  and 
on  the  backs  of  men,  and  the  infirm  often 
crawled  to  the  trail  where  the  missionary  was 
to  pass,  that  they  might  catch  from  his  lips 
some  word  of  life.  And  now  began  a  move- 
ment to  which  the  history  of  the  church  fur- 
nishes no  parallel  since  its  first  revival.  The 
exigencies  of  the  case  demand  unusual  meas- 
ures ;  15,000  people,  scattered  up  and  down 
the  coast  for  a  hundred  miles,  hungry  for  the 
divine  bread — what  is  one  preacher,  or  at  most 
two  among  so  many?  He  needs  the  wing  as 
well  as  the  tongue  of  an  angel  to  preach  to 
them  the  everlasting  gospel.  But  he  is  mor- 
tal. The  preacher  cannot  go  to  them.  They 
must  come  to  him.  And  so  whole  villages 
gather  from  many  miles  away  and  make  their 
homes  near  the  mission  house.  Two-thirds  of 
the  entire  population  come  in.  Within  the  ra- 
dius oi  a  mile  the  little  cabins  clustered  thick 
as  they  could  stand.  Hilo,  the  village  of  ten 
hundred,  saw  its  population  suddenly  swelled 
to  ten  thousand,  and  here  was  held,  literally, 
a  camp-meeting  of  two  3^ears.  At  any  hour  of 
the  day  or  night  a  tap  of  the  bell  would  bring 
together  a  congregation  of  from  3,000  to  6,000. 


58  ESHCOL 

Meetings  for  prayer  and  preaching  were  held 
daily.  But  it  was  not  all  this.  The  entrance 
of  the  word  gave  light  in  every  way.  The  peo- 
ple wrought  with  a  new  industry  at  their  little 
taro  patches.  The  sea  also  gave  them  food. 
Schools  for  old  and  young  went  on.  "Our 
wives  held  meetings  for  the  children,  to  teach 
them  to  attend  to  their  persons,  to  braid  mats, 
to  make  their  tapas,  hats  and  bonnets. "  "Nu- 
merous and  special  meetings  were  held  for  all 
classes  of  the  people,  for  the  church,  for  pa- 
rents, mothers,  the  inquiring,  and  for  church 
candidates."  There  was  no  disorder.  A  Sab- 
bath quiet  reigned  through  the  crowded  hamlet, 
and  from  every  booth  at  dawn  and  at  nightfall 
was  heard  the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise. 

THE    GREAT  CONGREGATION. 

Let  us  look  in  upon  one  of  the  great  congre- 
gations. A  protracted  meeting  is  going  on. 
The  old  church,  85  feet  wide  by  165  feet  long,  is 
packed  with  a  sweltering  and  restless  mass  of 
6,000  souls.  A  new  church  near  by  takes  the 
overflow  of  3,000  more,  while  hundreds  press 
about  the  doors,  crowding  every  opening  with 
their  eager  faces.  What  a  sight  is  there  to 
look  upon.  The  people  sit  upon  the  ground 
so  close  that  no  one,  once  fixed,  can  leave  his 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  59 

place.  You  might  walk  over  them,  but  to  walk 
among  them  is  impossible.  It  is  a  sea  of 
heads  with  eyes  like  stars.  They  are  far  from 
being  still.  There  is  a  strange  mingling  of 
the  new  interest  and  the  old  wildness,  and 
the  heated  mass  seethes  like  a  caldron.  An 
effort  to  sing  a  hymn  is  then  made.  The  rude, 
inharmonious  song  would  shock  our  ears,  but 
the  attempt  is  honest,  and  God  accepts  it  as 
praise.  Prayer  is  offered  and  then  the  sermon 
comes.  The  view  is  most  affecting,  and  calls 
for  all  the  power  of  the  reaper  to  thrust  in 
the  sickle.  The  great  theme  is,  You  are  sin- 
ners, dead  in  trespasses  and  sins:  Christ  died 
to  save  you.  Submit  your  hearts  to  God.  Be- 
lieve in  Christ  and  you  shall  live.  And  mul- 
titudes do  submit.  Under  the  pungent  setting 
home  of  the  truth,  the  whole  audience  tremble 
and  weep,  and  many  cry  aloud  for  mercy. 

THE  PREACHER  AND  THE   PREACHING. 

It  must  have  required  rare  gifts  to  control 
such  meetings,  in  order  to  secure  good  results. 
But  Mr.  Coan  seems  to  have  had  the  tact  and 
ability  to  do  it.  "I  would  rise  before  the 
restless,  noisy,  crowd  and  begin.  It  wasn't 
long  before  I  felt  that  I  had  got  hold  of  them. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  chord  of  electricity  binding 


60  ESHCOL 

them  to  me.  I  knew  that  I  had  them,  that 
they  would  not  go  away.  The  Spirit  would 
hush  them  by  the  truth  till  they  would  sob 
and  cry,  'What  shall  we  do?'  and  the  noise  of 
the  weeping  would  be  so  great  I  could  not  go 
on." 

"The  themes  preached  were  the  simple  old 
standard  doctrines.  It  has  been  an  object  of 
deep  and  uniform  attention  to  keep  the  holy 
law  of  God  constantly  blazing  before  the  minds 
of  all  the  people,  and  to  hold  the  claims  and 
sanctions  of  the  gospel  in  near  and  warm  con- 
tact with  their  frigid  hearts."  "I  preached 
just  as  plain  and  simple  as  I  could;  applied 
the  text  by  illustrations  until  the  whole  con- 
gregation would  be  in  a  quiver;  did  not  try  to 
excite  them  ;  did  not  call  on  them  to  rise  and 
show  interest."  It  was  God's  truth  sent  home 
by  the  Spirit  that  seemed  to  do  the  work. 

And  there  were  not  wanting  those 

PHYSICAL      MANIFESTATIONS 

which  have  usually  accompanied  the  mightier 
works  of  grace — especially  among  ruder  peo- 
ples. Under  the  pressure  of  the  truth  there 
would  be  weeping,  sighing  and  outcries. 
"When  we  rose  for  prayer  some  would  fall 
down  in  a    swoon.     There    were    hundreds    of 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  61 

such  cases.  I  did  not  think  much  of  it.  On 
one  occasion  I  preached  from  'Madness  is  in 
their  hearts.'  I  can  see  them  now.  It  was 
such  a  scene!  The  truth  seemed  to  have  an 
intense  power.  A  woman  rose — she  was  a  beau- 
tiful woman — and  cried,  *0h!  I'm  the  one; 
madness  is  in  my  heart!'  She  became  a  true 
Christian.  A  man  cried  out:  'There's  a  two- 
edged  sword  cutting  me  in  pieces;  my  flesh  is 
all  flying  in  the  air!'  There  was  a  backwoods 
native,  wicked,  stout,  who  had  come  in  to 
make  fun.  When  we  rose  to  pray  he  nudged 
those  about  him  with  his  elbow  to  make  them 
laugh.  All  at  once  he  dropped  like  a  log — fell 
suddenly.  When  he  came  to,  he  said,  'God 
has  struck  me.'  He  was  subdued  and  gave 
evidence  of  being  a  true  Christian.  Once,  on 
a  tour,  I  was  preaching  in  the  fields  at  a  pro- 
tracted meeting.  There  were  perhaps  2,000 
present.  In  the  midst  of  the  sermon  a  man 
cried  out:  'Alas!  what  shall  I  do  to  be  saved  !' 
and  he  prayed  'God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sin- 
ner!' and  the  whole  congregation  did  the  same, 
— joined  in  with  ejaculations.  It  was  a  thrill- 
ing scene.  I  could  get  no  chance  to  speak  for 
half  an  hour,  but  stood  still  to  see  the  salva- 
tion of  God.  There  were  many  such  scenes. 
J3ut  men  would  come  and  say, 


62  ESHCOL 

'WHY    don't    you     put   THIS    DOWN.' 

My  answer  was,  'I  didn't  get  it  up.'  I  didn't 
believe  the  devil  would  set  men  to  praying, 
confessing  and  breaking  off  their  sins  by  right- 
eousness. These  were  the  times  when  thieves 
brought  back  what  they  had  stolen.  Lost  things 
reappeared  and  quarrels  were  reconciled.  The 
lazy  became  industrious.  Thousands  broke 
their  pipes  and  gave  up  tobacco.  Drunkards 
stopped  drinking.  Adulteries  ceased  and  mur- 
derers confessed  their  crimes.  Neither  the 
devil  nor  all  the  men  of  the  world  could  have 
got  this  up.  Why  should  I  put  it  down?  In 
the  Old  Testament  church  there  were  times 
when  the  weeping  of  the  people  was  heard 
afar.  I  always  told  the  natives  that  such 
demonstrations  were  of  no  account,  no  evidence 
of  conversion.  I  advised  to  quietness  I  said, 
if  they  were  sorry  for  their  sins,  God  knew  it; 
if  they  were  forgiven  they  need  not  continue 
to  weep.  And  I  especially  tried  to  keep  them 
from  hypocrisy." 

THE    GREAT     TIDAL   WAVE. 

In  this  work  God's  providences  wrought 
with  his  Spirit.  Notwithstanding  .the  great 
interest,  many  opposed  it  and  hardened  them- 
selves.    But  God  had  a  sermon  for  them  more 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  63 

pungent  than  human  lips  could  utter.  It  was 
Nov.  7,  1837.  The  revival  was  at  its  height, 
and  a  protracted  meeting  was  going  forward. 
The  crescent  sand-beach,  the  most  beautiful 
in  the  world,  dotted  all  over  its  mile  and  a 
half  of  length  with  the  native  booths,  and 
reaching  up  into  the  charming  groves  behind, 
smiled  in  security.  A  British  whaler  swung 
idly  at  its  moorings  in  the  harbor,  and  the 
great  ocean  slept  in  peace.  The  day  opened 
as  usual  with  the  natives  out  en  masse  for  the 
daybreak  prayer-meeting,  and  the  customary 
routine  went  on, — a  scattering  for  breakfast, 
a  flocking  together  for  the  nine  o'clock  sermon 
— there  were  four  preached  each  day — with  the 
accustomed  crush  of  6,000  inside  the  old 
church,  and  the  swarms  pressing  about  the 
doors  and  windows,  then  the  usual  surging  of 
inquirers  and  the  crowds  following  the  mis- 
sionaries to  their  homes,  and  then  again  the 
sermon  at  twelve  and  a  half,  and  soon  through 
the  day.  There  must  have  been  a  funeral  that 
da}',  for  the  natives  tell,  although  the  preacher 
does  not  remember  it,  that  the  text  was,  "Be 
ye  also  ready."  At  seven  o'clock  in  the  even- 
ing, just  as  Mr.  Coan  was  calling  his  family 
together  for  prayers  a  heavy  sound  was  heard, 
as  of  a  falling  mountain  upon  the  beach.      Im- 


64  ESHCOL 

mediatelj^  a  great  cry  and  wailing  arose,  and  a 
scene  of  indescribable  confusion  followed. 
"The  sea,  by  an  unseeen  hand,  had,  all  on  a 
sudden,  risen  in  a  gigantic  wave,  and,  rushing 
in  with  the  rapidity  of  a  race  horse,  had  fallen 
upon  the  shore,  sweeping  everything  into  in- 
discriminate ruin.  Men,  women,  children, 
houses,  canoes,  food,  clothing,  everything 
floated  wild  upon  the  flood.  So  sudden,  so 
unexpected,  was  the  catastrophe,  that  the  peo- 
ple were  literally  'eating  and  drinking,'  and 
they  'knew  not  till  the  flood  came  and  swept 
them  all  away.'  The  wave  fell  upon  them 
like  the  bolt  of  heaven,  and  no  man  had  time 
to  flee,  or  save  his  garment.  In  a  moment 
hundreds  of  people  were  struggling  with  the 
raging  billows  and  in  the  midst  of  their  earthly 
all.  Some  were  dashed  upon  the  shore,  some 
were  drawn  out  by  friends  who  came  to  their 
relief,  some  were  carried  out  to  sea  by  the  re- 
tiring current,  and  some  sank  to  rise  no  more 
till  the  noise  of  the  judgment  wakes  them." 
Tlirough  the  great  mercy  of  God  only  thirteen 
were  drowned.  But  the  loud  roar  of  the  ocean, 
the  cries  of  distress,  the  shrieks  of  the  perish- 
ing, the  frantic  rush  of  hundreds  to  the  shore, 
and  the  desolation  there  presented,  combined 
to  make  it  a  scene  of  thrilling  and  awful  inter- 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  C5 

est.  There  was  no  sleep  that  night.  "To  the 
people  it  seemed  to  be  as  the  voice  of  Al- 
mighty God  when  he  speaketh. "  The  next  day 
the  meetings  went  on  with  renewed  power,  and 
through  all  the  week,  as  the  sea  gave  up,  one 
after  another,  its  dead,  and  the  people  with 
funeral  rites  bore  them  to  their  resting  places, 
the  Spirit  set  home  this  new  sermon  with  di- 
vine effect. 

A    SANDWICH    ISLAND    CHORAZIN. 

The  scenes  of  the  Bible  seemed  to  repeat 
themselves  with  an  almost  startling  likeness 
in  some  of  the  incidents  of  this  work.  We 
will  speak  of  but  one.  In  a  secluded  valley  of 
Puna  there  was  a  village — a  small  one — pecu- 
liarly wicked.  It  was  a  depth  below  the  deep 
of  the  heathenism  around.  The  missionary 
took  special  pains  with  them  for  two  or  three 
years  with  no  good  results.  The  people  hard- 
ened themselves,  and  with  a  "superfluity  of 
naughtiness"  denied  food  to  those  who  came 
to  them  with  the  gospel.  "One  time  I  went 
there  with  a  number  of  native  Christians  to 
hold  a  meeting.  'Haven't  you  any  food'  I 
said,  'not  even  a  potato?'  'No,  not  half  a 
potato.'  Night  came  on  and  my  men  lay  down, 
hungry  as  bears.     When  the  villagers  thought 


66  ESHCOL 

we  were  asleep,  we  heard  thein  go  to  the  foot 
of  a  tree,  uncover  their  food  and  eat.  In  the 
morning  I  said  to  them,  'I  have  come  time 
after  time  preaching,  and  you  never  gave  me 
so  much  as  a  cocoanut.  I  do  not  care  for 
myself,  but  here  are  these  hungry  men.  I 
shake  off  the  dust  of  my  feet  against  you.  I 
will  never  come  again  till  called.'  In  a  short 
time,  although  they  were  forty  miles  from  port, 
the  small-pox  singled  them  out,  and  nearly 
every  person  died.  There  were  only  three  or 
four  survivors.  And  in  1840  a  lava  flood  came 
down  upon  them,  scathing  every  tree,  burning 
every  house,  obliterating  the  very  site  of  the 
village,  and  leaving  only  a  black  lava  field." 

But  this  was  the  Lord's  "strange  work."  To 
multitudes  he  was  the  merciful  God.  The  case 
of 

THE    HIGH    PRIEST   AND    PRIESTESS    OF  PELE 

is  of  peculiar  interest.  He  was  a  man  of  ma- 
jestic presence,  six  feet  five  inches  in  height, 
and  his  sister,  co-ordinate  with  him  in  power, 
was  nearly  as  tall.  As  great  high  priest  of  the 
volcano  thirty  miles  away,  his  business  was  to 
keep  the  dreadful  Pele  appeased.  He  lived 
upon  the  shore,  but  went  up  often  with  sacri- 
fices to    the    fiery    home  of    their    deity.      If  a 


FOUR  MEM0R/1BLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  67 

human  victim  was  needed,  he  only  had  to 
look,  and  point,  and  the  poor  native  was  im- 
mediately strangled.  He  was  not  only  the  em- 
bodiment of  heathen  piety,  but  of  heathen 
crimes.  So  fierce  and  tyrannical  was  his  temper 
that  no  native  dared  tread  on  his  shadow. 
Robbery  was  his  pastime.  More  than  once  he 
had  struck  a  man  dead  for  his  food  and  gar- 
ment— the  whole  of  it  not  worth  fifty  cents. 
At  last  he  crept  into  one  of  the  meetings,  and 
the  truth  laid  hold  of  him.  He  came  again 
and  again,  and  would  sit  on  the  ground  by  the 
preacher,  weeping  and  confessing  his  crimes. 
"I  have  been  deceived,"  he  said.  "I  have 
lived  in  darkness  and  did  not  know  the  true 
God.  I  worshiped  what  was  no  God.  I  re- 
nounce it  all.  The  true  God  has  come.  He 
speaks.  I  bow  down  to  him.  I  want  to  be 
his  child."  His  sister  came  soon  after,  and 
they  stayed  months  to  be  taught.  The  change 
in  them  was  most  wonderful,  they  became 
quiet  and  docile,  and  after  due  probation  were 
received  to  the  church.  They  were  then  about 
seventy  years  old,  and  a  few  years  afterward 
they  died  in  peace,  witnessing  to  the  mar- 
velous grace  of  God. 

THE  SWORD  OF  THE  LORD  AND  OF  GIDEON. 

In  the    year    1838    the    waves    of    salvation 


68  ESHCOL 

rolled  deep  and  broad  over  the  whole  field, 
and  the  converts  were  numbered  by  thousands. 
To  us  who  seldom  see  above  loo  accessions 
to  a  church  from  a  revival,  this  appears  almost 
incredible.  And  how  such  a  work  could  have 
been  managed  and  made  to  stand  in  perma- 
nent results  seems  a  mystery.  There  were 
but  two  missionaries,  a  lay  preacher,  and  their 
wives.  The  extremes  of  the  parish  were  a  hun- 
dred miles  apart.  Portions  of  it  were  reached 
only  at  the  peril,  almost,  of  life  and  limb.  It  is 
true  that  thousands  came  in  to  the  central  sta- 
tion from  the  far-off  villages,  and  stayed  many 
months.  But  this  could  not  last.  By  what 
aids  and  means  were  such  results  wrought  and 
secured  in  permanency?  There  was  a  marvelous 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit.  This  was  first  and 
highest.  The  battle  cry  was  "The  sword  of  the 
Lord."  But  it  was  also  "The  sword  of  Gid- 
eon." The  human  means  used  were  adapted  to 
produce  the  results.  Mr.  Coan  was  greatly 
assisted  by  his  associates.  Mr.  Lyman  was  a 
true  yoke-fellow  alternating  with  him,  in  ad- 
dition to  his  school  labor,  in  preaching  at  the 
protracted  meetings.  The  missionaries'  wives, 
surrounded  by  the  brood  of  their  own  little 
children,  held  daily  meetings  with  the  women, 
the  audiences  sometimes  numbering  thousands. 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  09 

But  to  the    method,    energy    and    zeal  of    Mr. 
Coan  the  chief  place  must  be  given. 

ITINERATING. 

As  we  turn  over  his  letters,  written  at  that 
time,  the  wisdom  to  plan  and  the  strength  to 
execute,  which  were  given  him  of  the  Lord, 
seem  marvelous.  Often  on  his  trips  he  preached 
twenty  or  thirty  sermons  a  week,  and  this  was 
but  part  of  the  labor.  "On  these  tours,"  he 
says,  "I  usually  spend  from  two  to  five  weeks 
visiting  all  the  church  members  in  their  re- 
spective villages,  calling  all  their  names,  hold- 
ing personal  interviews  with  them,  inquiring 
into  their  states,  their  hearts,  prayers,  and 
manner  of  living;  counseling,  reproving  and 
encouraging,  as  the  case  may  require;  and 
often  'breaking  bread'  from  place  to  place." 
The  physical  labor  of  these  tours  was  not 
small.  The  northern  part  of  his  parish  was 
crossed  by  sixty-three  ravines — we  see  his  meth- 
od by  the  exact  count  of  them  he  has  recorded 
■ — from  twenty  to  a  thousand  feet  in  depth. 
"In  many  of  them  the  banks  are  perpendicular, 
and  can  only  be  ascended  by  climbing  with 
the  utmost  care,  or  descended  only  by  letting 
one's  self  down  from  crag  to  crag  by  the 
hands.      In  times  of  rain  these    precipices  are 


ESHCOL  70 

very  slippery  and  dangerous,  and  in  many 
places  the  traveler  is  obliged  to  wind  his  way 
along  the  sides  of  a  giddy  steep,  where  one 
step  of  four  inches  from  the  track  would  plunge 
him  to  a  fearful  death  below."  And  then  the 
rivers,  leaping  and  foaming  along  the  old  fire 
channels,  "dashing  down  innumerable  preci- 
pices, and  urging  their  noisy  way  to  the  ocean," 
how  shall  they  be  crossed?  "Some  of  them  I 
succeeded  in  fording,  some  I  swam  by  the  help 
of  a  rope,  to  pervent  me  from  being  swept 
away,  and  over  some  I  was  carried  passively 
on  the  broad  shoulders  of  a  native,  while  a 
company  of  strong  men  locked  hands  and 
stretched  themselves  across  the  stream,  just 
below  me  and  just  above  a  near  cataract,  to 
save  me  from  going  over  it,  if  my  bearer  should 
fall."  This  experience  would  often  be  re- 
peated three  or  four  times  a  day.  "My  least 
weekly  number  of  sermons  is  six  or  seven,  and 
the  greatest  twenty-five  or  thirty,  often  travel- 
ing in  drenching  rains,  crossing  rapid  and  dan- 
gerous streams,  climbing  slippery  and  beetling 
precipices,  preaching  in  the  open  air,  and  some- 
times in  wind  and  rain,  with  every  garinent 
saturated  with  water." 

THE   FAITHFUL  PASTOR. 

But  it  was  only    by    an  exact    and    steadily- 


FOUR  MEMOR/1BLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  71 

worked  system  that  Mr.  Coan  could  "over- 
take" his  parish  of  15,000  souls.  Not  Dr. 
Chalmers  nor  Pastor  Harms  knew  their  people- 
better  than  he.  When  his  church  numbered 
more  than  5,000,  he  could  say,  "My  knowledge 
of  the  religious  experiences  and  daily  habits 
of  the  individuals  of  my  flock  at  the  present 
time  is  more  minute  and  thorough  than  it  was 
when  the  church  numbered  only  fifty  or  a 
hundred  members."  "By  drawing  lines  in  my 
parish;  by  dividing  the  people  into  sections 
and  classes;  by  attending  to  each  class  sep- 
arately, systematically  and  at  a  given  time, 
and  by  a  careful  examination  and  a  frequent 
review  of  every  individual  in  each  respective 
class;  by  keeping  a  note-book  always  in  my 
pocket  to  refresh  my  memory;  by  the  help  of 
many  faithful  church  members,  and  by  various 
other  collateral  helps,  I  am  enabled,  through 
the  grace  of  God,  to  gain  ten-fold  more  knowl- 
edge of  the  individuals  of  my  flock,  and  of 
candidates  for  church  membership,  than  I  once 
thought  it  possible  to  obtain  in  such  circum- 
stances." 

FEED    MY    LAMBS. 

The  children  did  not  escape  his    care.   From 
his  earliest  ministry  he  had  believed    in  child- 


72  ESHCOL 

hood  conversions.  When  in  this  country  in 
1870 — now  venerable  with  his  seventy  years — 
a  woman  in  Baltimore  said  to  him,  "When  I  was 
eight  years  old  you  took  me  in  your  lap  and 
talked  to  me  of  Christ,  I  was  converted  then." 
This  practical  faith  in  the  conversion  of 
children  led  him  to  give  them  special  and  con- 
stant care.  Beside  Sabbath-school  instruction 
a  regular  weekly  lecture  was  maintained  for 
them  through  the  year.  There  was  also  nu- 
merous occasional  meetings  for  different  classes 
of  children — for  those  in  church  fellowship, 
for  baptized  children  and  for  the  anxious. 
During  the  protracted  meetings  there  was  usu- 
ally a  sermon  each  day  for  them  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  As  the  result  of  this 
faithfulness  there  were  in  1838  about  400  child- 
ren, between  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  years, 
connected  with  his  church. 

SEEKING     THE    LOST. 

It  was  a  settled  plan  that  there  should  be  no 
living  person  in  all  Puna  or  Hilo,  who  had 
not  had  the  claims  of  the  gospel  repeatedly 
pressed  upon  him.  There  was  no  village  so 
remote,  insignificant,  or  inaccessible,  that  it 
did  not  receive  frequent  visits.  If  a  native 
family,  through    freak  of    temper  or    stress  of 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YE/IRS  AT  HILO  73 

fortune,  had  hid  itself  away  in  some  fastness 
of  the  mountain,  it  was  tracked  out  and  plied 
with  the  invitations  of  mercy. 

NATIVE     HELPERS. 

To  do  this  required  the  active  co-operation 
of  the  church.  "Many  of  the  more  discreet, 
prayerful  and  intelligent  of  the  members  were 
stationed  at  important  posts,  with  instructions 
to  hold  conference  and  prayer-meetings,  con- 
duct Sabbath  schools  and  watch  over  the  peo- 
ple. Some  of  these  native  helpers  were  men 
full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  they 
succeeded  admirably."  "Other  active  mem- 
bers were  selected  and  sent  forth,  two  and 
two,  into  every  village  and  place  of  the  peo- 
ple. They  went  everywhere  preaching  the  word. 
They  visited  the  villages,  climbed  the  mount- 
ains, traversed  the  forests,  and  explored  the 
glens  in  search  of  the  wandering  and  the  dy- 
ing sons  of  Hawaii.  On  one  occasion  Mr. 
Coan  sent  out  about  forty  church  members  to 
visit  from  house  to  house,  and  in  all  the  'high- 
ways and  hedges,'  within  five  miles  of  the 
station.  They  were  instructed  to  pray  in  every 
house,  to  look  after  all  the  sick,  the  wretched 
and  the  friendless,  to  stir  up  the  minds  of 
the  converts,  and  to  gather  the  children.      Two 


74  ESHCOL 

days  were  spent  in  this  way.  "Every  cottage 
was  entered,  every  fastness  of  Satan  scoured. 
The  immediate  result  was,  that  several  back- 
loads  of  tobacco,  awa  and  pipes  were  brought 
in  and  burnt,  and  about  500  hitherto  careless 
and  hardened  ones  were  gathered  into  the 
house  of  God  to  hear  the  words  of  life.  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  fell  upon  them,  and  it  is 
believed  that  many  of  them  were  born  again." 
Many  of  these  natives  were  wonderfully 
gifted  in  prayer.  "They  take  God  at  his  word," 
says  Mr.  Coan,  "and  with  a  simple  and  child- 
like faith,  unspoiled  by  tradition  or  vain  phi- 
losophy, they  go  with  boldness  to  the  throne 
of  gracb. "  "How  often  have  I  blushed,  and 
felt  like  hiding  my  face  in  the  dust,  when  I 
have  witnessed  their  earnest  wrestlings,  and 
have  seen  how  like  princes  they  have  had  power 
with  God  and  have  prevailed."  "With  tears, 
with  soul-melting  fervor,  and  with  that  earnest 
importunity  which  takes  no  denial,  they  often 
plead  the  promises,  and  receive  what  appear 
to  be  the  most  direct  and  unequivocal  answers 
to  their  prayers." 

AN    INGATHERING. 

The  great  harvest  years  were  1838  and  1839. 
Seven  or  eight  thousand  natives  had  professed 


FOUR  MEMOR/IBLE  YE/1RS  AT  HILO  75 

conversion,  but  very  few  had  thus  far  been 
received  to  the  church.  The  utmost  care  was 
taken  in  selecting,  examining,  watching  and 
teaching  the  candidates.  Tiie  ever-faithful 
note  book  was  constantly  in  hand.  Those  from 
the  distant  villages  came  in  and  spent  several 
months  at  the  station  previous  to  their  union 
to  the  church.  Day  by  day  they  were  watched 
over  and  instructed  with  unceasing  labor.  To- 
gether with  those  on  the  ground,  they  were  ex- 
amined and  re-examined  personally  many  times, 
sifted  and  re-sifted,  with  scrutiny  and  with 
every  effort  to  take  forth  the  precious  from  the 
vile.  Many  of  them  were  converts  of  two 
years'  standing.  A  still  larger  class  had  been 
on  the  list  for  more  than  one  year,  and  a  small- 
er number  for  a  less  period.  The  accepted 
ones  stood  propounded  for  several  weeks,  and 
the  church  and  the  world,  friends  and  enemies, 
were  called  upon  and  solemnly  charged  to  tes- 
tify if  they  knew  aught  against  any  of  the 
candidates. 

The  communion  seasons  were  held  quar- 
terly, and  at  these  times  the  converts,  thus 
carefully  sifted,  were  added  to  the  church. 
The  first  Sabbath  of  January,  1838,  104  were 
received.  Afterward,  at  different  times,  502, 
450,  786,    357,  and    on  one    occasion  a    much 


76  ESHCOL 

larger  number.  The  station  report  for  the  mis- 
sion year  ending  June,  1839,  gives  the  number 
of  accessions  for  that  twelve  months  at  5,244. 
A  large  number  of  these  never  came  to  the 
central  station.  The  sick,  the  aged  and  the 
infirm  were  baptized  and  received  into  fellow- 
ship at  their  own  villages.  Some  believers 
were  thus  accepted  who  could  neither  walk  nor 
be  carried,  and  who  lived  far  up  in  the  mount- 
ains, where  the  only  water  for  baptism  that 
could  be  found  were  the  few  drops  trickling 
from  the  roof  of  caves. 

A   MEMORABLE   COMMUNION. 

The  first  Sabbath  of  July,  1838,  was  a  mem- 
orable one,  not  only  in  this  church,  but  in 
the  history  of  Missions.  It  was  the  day  of 
the  greatest  accession.  On  that  afternoon  1,705 
men,  women  and  children,  who  aforetime  had 
been  heathen,  were  baptized,  and  took  upon 
them  the  vows  of  God;  and  about  2,400  com- 
municants sat  down  together  at  the  table  of 
their  Lord.  We  look  in  upon  that  scene  with 
wonder  and  awe.  The  great  crush  of  people 
at  the  morning  sermon  has  been  dismissed,  and 
the  house  is  cleared.  Down  through  the  mid- 
dle, as  is  fitting,  are  seated  first  the  original 
members  of  the  church,  perhaps  fifty    in  num- 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YE/IRS  AT  HILO  77 

ber.  The  missionary  then  calls  upon  the  head 
of  each  village  to  bring  forward  his  people. 
With  note-book  in  hand,  he  carefully  selects 
the  converts  who  have  been  previously  ac- 
cepted. They  have  been  for  many  weeks  at  the 
station.  No  pains  have  been  spared,  no  test 
left  unused  with  each  individual,  to  ascertain 
if  he  be  truly  a  child  of  God.  The  multitude 
of  candidates  is  then  seated  upon  the  earth 
floor,  in  close  rows,  with  space  enough  between 
for  one  to  walk.  There  is  prayer  and  singing, 
and  an  explanation — made  many  times  before, 
lest  any  shall  trust  in  the  external  rite — is  given 
of  the  baptism  they  are  now  to  receive.  Then, 
with  a  basin  of  water  in  his  hand,  rapidly,  rev- 
erently he  passes  back  and  forth  along  the  si- 
lent rows,  and  every  head  receives  the  sealing 
ordinance.  When  all  have  been  baptized,  he 
advances  to  the  front,  and  raising  his  hands 
pronounces  the  hallowed  words:  "I  baptize 
you  all  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son 
and  the  Holy  Ghost."  "I  never  witnessed 
such  a  scene  before,"  he  said,  looking  back 
through  the  lapse  of  thirty  years.  "There  was 
a  hush  upon  the  vast  crowd  without,  who 
pressed  about  the  doors  and  windows.  The 
candidates  and  the  church  were  all  in  tears, 
and  the  overshadowing  presence  of  God  was  felt 
in  every  heart." 


78  ESHCOL 

Then  followed  the  sacrament.  And  who  are 
these  that  take  into  their  hands  the  emblems 
of  the  Lord's  death?  Let  him  tell  who  broke 
the  bread  and  gave  the  cup. 

"The  old  and  decrepit,  the  lame,  the  blind, 
the  maimed,  the  withered,  the  paralytic,  and 
those  afflicted  with  divers  diseases  and  tor 
ments;  those  with  eyes,  noses,  lips  and  limbs 
consumed  with  the  fire  of  their  own  or  their 
parents'  former  lusts,  with  features  distorted 
and  figures  the  most  depraved  and  loathsome, 
these  come  hobbling  upon  their  staves,  and 
led  or  borne  by  their  friends,  and  sit  down  at 
the  table  of  the  Lord.  Among  this  throng  you 
will  see  the  hoary  priest  of  idolatry,  with 
hands  but  recently,  as  it  were,  washed  from 
the  blood  of  human  victims,  together  with  the 
thief,  the  adulterer,  the  sodomite,  the  sorcerer, 
the  highway  robber,  the  blood-stained  murderer, 
and  the  mother — no,  the  monster — whose  hands 
have  reeked  in  the  blood  of  her  own  children. 
All  these  meet  together  before  the  cross  of 
Christ,  with  their  enmity  slain,  and  themselves 
washed  and  sanctified,  and  justified  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of 
our  God."  Has  Jesus  come  again?  Is  this 
one  of  the  crowds  which  he  has  gathered, 
upon  whom    he    has  pronounced  the  words  of 


FOUR  MRMOR/fBLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  79 

healing?  Surely  it  is.  In  very  deed  he  is 
there.  These  are  the  lost  whom  the  Son  of 
Man  came  to  seek  and  to  save.  And  the  re- 
joicing angels  are  there.  They  leave  behind 
the  pomp  of  cathedrals,  and  fly  with  eager  wing 
to  this  lowly  island  tabernacle.  With  holy 
wonder,  with  celestial  delight,  they  hover  over 
the  bowed  heads  of  these  weeping,  redeemed 
sinners.  And  heaven  catches  the  joy.  "The 
bright  seraphim  in  burning  row,"  ring  out 
anew  the  praises  of  the  Highest  as  they  hear 
recounted  the  marvelous  triumphs  of  Almighty 
grace. 

DO   THESE    RESULTS    ABIDE? 

Tried  by  any  proper  standard,  the  results  do 
abide.  There  were  reactions.  But  what  revi- 
val in  America — where  the  people  garner  into 
themselves  the  growth,  culture,  moral  stamina 
of  a  thousand  Christian  years — is  not  followed 
by  reaction?  There  were  apostasies.  But  did 
there  not  appear  one  in  Christ's  Twelve,  and 
many  in  the  apostles'  churches?  On  examin- 
ing the  matter  with  some  care,  we  are  con- 
strained to  say  that  the  permanence  of  the  re- 
sults seems  to  us  almost  as  marvelous  as  the 
revival  itself.  During  the  five  years  ending 
June,  1841,  7,557  persons  were  received  to  the 
church  at  Hilo.     This    embraced  about  three- 


80  ESHCOL 

fourths  of  the  entire  adult  population  of  the 
parish.  The  proportion  of  those  under  disci- 
pline was  about  one  in  sixty — a  discipline 
stricter  than  ours  at  home,  and  that  among 
mere  babes  in  Christ.  The  greater  part  of 
these  were  restored,  and  the  finally  excommu- 
nicated were  few.  The  accessions  from  that 
day  to  this  have  been  constant.  "I  never  ad- 
ministered the  quarterly  sacrament  without 
receiving  from  ten  to  twenty  persons.  No  year 
has  the  number  gone  below  fifty.  It  did  not 
prove  a  great  excitement  to  die  out.  When  I 
left,  in  April,  1870,  I  had  received  into  the 
church, and  myself  baptized,  11, 960  persons,  and 
had  also  baptized  about  4,000  infants." 

Under  this  training  the  people  bcame  more 
and  more  settled  in  faith  and  morals.  An  ir- 
ruption of  Catholic  priests,  backed  up  by 
French  cannon  and  brandy,  drew  away  almost 
none  of  them.  There  never  was  a  grog  shop 
in  the  entire  parish.  It  is  probable  that  there 
are  to-day  more  people,  in  proportion,  in 
Illinois,  who  cannot  read  and  write,  than  in 
Hilo  and  Puna.  Not  in  New  Enlgand  is  the 
Sabbath  better  observed;  and  the  industries 
of  civilization  have  now  largely  taken  the 
place  of  the  old  savage  indolence. 

In  1867,  the  grand  old  church   was   divided 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YE/IRS  AT  HILO  SI 

into  seven  local,  independent  churches,  six  of 
them  with  native  pastors.  Three  of  these  are 
on  the  lava  fields  of  the  south,  and  three  among 
the  ravines  of  the  north.  The  remaining  one 
is  at  Hilo,  where,  also,  is  an  American  church 
for  the  foreign  population.  To  accommodate 
the  widely  scattered  people,  these  churches 
have  built  fifteen  places  of  worship,  holding 
from  500  to  3,000.  Five  of  them  have  bells, 
and  one  building — that  at  Hilo — cost  about 
%i^,ooo.  This  has  been  done  mainly  with  their 
own  money  and  labor. 

But  this  people  have  especially  vindicated 
their  claim  to  a  place  among  the  churches  of 
the  Lord  by  their 

BENEFICENCE, 

The  Monthly  Concert  was  held  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  with  it  a  contribution  was  always 
taken.  They  first  "gave  their  own  selves  to 
the  Lord,"  and  then  it  was  "according  to  that 
a  man  hath,"  a  fish,  a  fowl,  a  cocoanut,  and, 
later,  money;  but  in  it  all,  sacrifice  and  wor- 
ship. Each  month,  on  the  first  Sunday  morn- 
ing, a  sermon  was  preached  on  some  department 
or  interest  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  broad 
world.  They  never  so  much  as  heard  that  mis- 
erable sentence  of  a    narrow    faith,  "So    much 


82  ESHCOL 

to  do  at  home."  Their  lips  never  uttered  the 
miserly  falsehood,  "It  takes  another  dollar  to 
send  one  to  the  heathen. "  They  were  instructed 
in  all  causes,  and  gave  to  all.  More  than  ^lo,- 
ooo  have  come  to  the  United  States  from  their 
contributions;  ^200  went  to  a  Chinese  mission, 
and  $100  to  Syria  at  the  time  of  the  massacre 
and  famine.  The  appeal  of  Father  Chiniquy, 
in  Kankakee,  Illinois,  reached  them  ;  and  when 
the  letter  which  brought  him  $200  from  these 
poor  Islanders  was  read,  his  whole  congrega- 
tion bowed  down  weeping.  Their  monthly  col. 
lections  have  averaged  from  the  beginning 
about  Sioo,  the  highest  reaching  $265  and  the 
grand  aggregate  for  all  religious  purposes 
amounts  to  above  ^100,000.  And  they  have 
done  more.  They  have  given  themselves. 
Twelve  of  their  number,  wholly  sustained  by 
the  church  that  sent  them,  have  gone  out  as 
foreign  missionaries,  2,000  miles  to  the  dark 
islands  beyond. 

CONCLUSION. 

After  an  absence  of  more  than  thirty  years, 
Mr.  Coan  in  1870  visited  this  countr3\  While 
here  he  exercised  his  superabundant  strength 
in  visiting  twent}'  of  our  States  and  Territories, 
making  in    all     two    hundred    and    thirty-nine 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  83 

missionary  addresses.  Upon  his  return  the 
evening  of  his  days  was  spent  as  pastor  of  the 
large  church  at  Hilo,  and  in  apostolic  super- 
vision of  the  other  churches  which  had  sprung 
lip  under  his  care. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1882,  in  the  midst  of  a 
special  interest  among  his  people,  he  was  sud- 
denly smitten  with  a  paralytic  shock.  After 
some  weeks  of  utter  helplessness,  at  the  ripe 
age  of  almost  eighty-two  years,  he  "passed  out 
of  toil  into  rest. " 

We  can  think  of  no  more  beautifully-ordered 
departure  than  his.  It  seemed  eminently  fit- 
ting that  he  who  labored  with  such  restless  en- 
ergy should  show  that,  at  his  Lord's  bidding, 
he  could  also  suffer  and  wait.  It  was  meet 
and  right  that  a  life  which  had  witnessed 
such  scenes  of  revival  should  have  given  its 
last  labors  in  ardent  efforts  for  lost  souls,  and 
that  in  the  midst  of  the  toils  of  a  season  of 
refreshing  from  the  Most  High,  the  tense  bow 
should  have  broken.  There  was  a  divine  and 
delightful  fitness  that  the  spirit  of  the  aged 
warrior  should  ascend  to  its  reward,  the  gra- 
cious conflict  still  raging,  from  the  very  battle- 
field where  such  amazing  triumphs  of  infinite 
love  had  been  achieved. 


84  ESHCOL 

The  venerable  Rev.  Titus  Coan  departed  this  life  at  his 
home  in  Hilo,  Sandwich  Islands,  Dec.  i,  1882.  He  was 
born  Feb.  i,  1801,  in  the  town  of  Killingworth,  Conn.,  hav- 
ing attained  the  age  of  nearly  eighty-two  years.  Although 
not  having  pursued  a  full  course  of  preparation  for  the  min- 
istry, his  success  in  evangelistic  labors  in  connection  with 
the  revivals  that  followed  the  preaching  of  his  cousin.  Rev. 
Asahel  Nettleton,  and  Rev.  Charles  G.  Finney,  led  to  his 
licensure  April,  17,  1833.  A  few  months  afterward  he  was 
ordained,  and  on  August,  16,  1833,  under  the  direction  of 
the  American  Board,  he  sailed  on  a  mission  of  exploration 
to  Patagonia.  Returning  after  some  strange  adventures  he 
was  married  at  Church ville,  N.  Y.,  on  monthly  concert 
evening,  Nov,  3,  1834,  to  Miss  Fidelia  Church,  and  on  Dec. 
5,  embarked  on  the  ship  Hellespont  for  his  untiring  labors 
of  nearly  half  a  century  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Soon 
after  his  return  from  a  visit  to  this  country  in  1870,  his  be- 
loved wife  was  called  to  her  reward.  A  most  happy  second 
marriage  cheered  his  later  years,  and  the  loving  wife  that 
ministered  tenderly  at  his  dying  bed  survives  to  mourn  his 
loss.  A  few  months  ago  during  a  revival  into  which  he 
threw  himself  with  unceasing  ardor  as  of  old,  he  was  sud- 
denly smitten  down  with  a  paralytic  shock.  For  several 
weeks  he  lay  ''helpless,  with  only  love,  joy,  peace  in  his 
soul,  his  beautiful  patience  and  submission,  completing  the 
lesson  his  life  had  given  of  obedience  to  his  Lord."  He  re- 
covered in  part,  so  that  the  day  before  his  death  he  was  car- 
ried through  the  streets  "looking  very  bright  and  natural.'" 
Almost  the  entire  village  flocked  out  to  greet  him  and  all 
were  glad  to  have  had  that  last  look,  The  next  day  at  noon 
he  was  standing  among  the  redeemed  throng  on  high. 


THE    GREAT   REVIVAL. 

What  is  termed    The    Great  Revival   at    the 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YE/IRS  AT  HILO  85 


Sandwich  Islands  may  be  said  to  have  com- 
menced in  the  year  1836  and  to  have  extended 
to  1842.  The  missionaries  first  sighted  the 
snowy  summit  of  Mauna  Kea,  eighty  miles 
away,  March  30,  1820.  They  found  a  people 
in  the  utter  moral  and  physical  degradation 
of  savage  life.  It  opens  a  rift  into  the  dark- 
ness of  their  condition  to  know  that  "the 
thought  of  the  chief"  was  the  only  law;  that 
marriage  and  the  family  constitution  were  al- 
most unknown;  and  that  at  least  two-thirds 
of  the  infants  perished  by  the  hands  of  their 
own  parents.  To  their  own  unutterable  cor- 
ruption had  been  added  the  worst  vices  of  civ- 
ilization and  their  consequent  diseases. 
Through  infanticide  and  other  crimes  three- 
fourths  of  the  viromen  were  childless,  and  the 
population  of  the  Islands  was  diminished  each 
year  by  several  thousand.  It  was  in  this  des- 
perate condition  of  things  that  the  remedial 
forces  of  the  gospel  began  their  work.  There 
were  favoring  providences.  Just  before  the 
missionary  arrived,  partly  from  caprice,  partly 
from  a  desire  for  greater  license,  possibly  also 
from  some  dim  sense  of  their  futility,  the  tabu 
had  been  broken  and  idolatry  abolished.  Doubt- 
less behind  it  all  was  the  hand  of  divine  prov- 
idence.     The  same  divine  hand  gave    the  mis- 


86  ESHCOL 

sionaries  from  the  first  a  degree  of  acceptance 
with  the  king  and  the  high  chiefs,  and  espec- 
ially with  some  really  noble  women.  And 
where  these  led  the  way  the  people,  accustomed 
to  the  most  abject  servitude,  easily  followed. 
It  must  be  said  to  the  infinite  shame  of  our 
civilization  that  the  worst  and  most  dangerous 
opposition  came  from  foreign  ship-masters  and 
their  dissolute  and  desperate  crews.  To  this, 
however,  there  were  some  marked  and  most 
helpful  exceptions. 

We  now  turn  forward  the  leaves  of  this  his- 
tory sixteen  years.  The  signs  have  been  so 
hopeful  that  the  evangelizing  force  is  greatly 
increased.  Twenty-seven  ordained  missionaries 
are  on  the  ground,  with  sixty  helpers,  includ- 
ing their  wives.  The  language  has  been  re- 
duced to  writing.  The  translation  of  the  whole 
Bible  into  the  Hawaiian  language  is  nearly 
completed.  The  schools  are  crowded  with 
pupils,  chiefly  adults.  But  it  is  thought  en- 
couraging that  the  parents  have  learned  to  let 
their  children  live,  instead  of  putting  them  to 
death.  About  one-fourth  of  the  population 
can  read.  More  than  a  thousand  Christian 
marriages  are  solemnized  in  the  year.  A  code 
of  laws  forbidding  certain  of  the  grosser  vices, 
with  a    Bill    of    Rights,  has    been    voluntarily 


FOUR  MEMORABLE  YEARS  AT  HILO  87 


adopted.  The  seventeen  congregations  have 
an  average  attendance  of  14,500,  or  about  900 
each.  And  in  the  fifteen  churches  are  1,049 
members.  And  now  the  spring  ot  the  years  of 
mighty  refreshing  comes  on  apace.  The  hearts 
of  multitudes  in  the  home-land  are  wonderfully 
drawn  out  in  prayer.  The  spirit  of  grace  and 
of  supplication  is  poured  forth  with  unusual 
power  upon  the  missionaries.  Protracted  meet- 
ings are  held.  Great  throngs  of  from  2,000  to 
6,000  flock  to  the  thatch-covered  places  of  wor- 
ship, or  lift  up  their  cries  for  mercy  and  their 
rude  songs  in  the  shade  of  tropic  groves.  The 
missionaries,  with  a  wisdom,  zeal  and  power 
which  seem  from  above,  preach  guide,  instruct 
warn,  entreat,  rebuke.  And  the  mightily  con. 
verting  grace  of  God  comes  upon  the  people. 
This  continues  several  years.  The  converts, 
that  the  reality  of  their  experience  may  be 
tested,  are  kept  as  candidates  for  from  six 
months  to  two  years  and  then  comes  the  in- 
gathering. In  1839,  5,402  are  received  into  the 
churches;  in  1840,  10,725;  in  1841,  4,179;  in 
1842,  1,473;  from  the  commencement  of  the 
mission,  22,806. 

Now  we  turn  forward  to  1870,  the  year  the 
American  Board  gave  these  churches  over  to 
their  own  care,  and  what  is  the  summing    up? 


88  ESHCOL 

— 58  independent,  self-supporting  churches, 
44  of  them  in  charge  of  a  native  ministry  — 
with  a  membership  of  14,850 — about  one-fourth 
of  the  entire  population.  That  year  they  gave 
$30,000  to  various  Christian  objects.  Thirty 
per  cent  of  their  ministers  are  foreign  mis- 
sionaries to  the  dark  islands  beyond.  Twenty- 
two  per  cent  of  their  contributions  are  for  the 
foreign  field;  $1,500  was  expended  upon  Chinese 
emigrants.  Their  120  church  buildings  are 
valued  at  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars. 
Such  is  the  result  through  the  blessing  of  God 
upon  the  faith  and  toil  of  forty  ordained  mis- 
sionaries with  their  wives  and  consecrated  lay- 
helpers.  The  spirit  of  the  whole  movement  is 
beautifully  symbolized  by  the  speech  of  the 
veteran  native  missionary  Kanwealoha  on  the 
15th  of  June,  1870.  In  the  presence  of  his 
king,  foreign  diplomats,  old  missionaries,  and 
a  great  assembly,  he  held  aloft  the  Hawaiian 
Bible  saying,  "Not  with  powder  and  ball,  and 
swords  and  cannon,  but  with  this  living  Word 
of  God,  and  with  his  spirit,  do  we  go  forth  to 
conquer  the  Islands  for  Christ." 


EVANGELISM  IN  THE  PACIFIC. 

When  Balboa  in  1513,  first  saw  the  Pacific 
Ocean  from  a  height  on  the  Isthmus  of  Darien. 
he  probably  did  not  dream  that,  far  off  in  the 
depths  of  its  vast  spaces,  there  was  a  multi- 
tude of  island  groups,  matchless  in  beauty  and 
populous  in  savage  races  of  men.  It  is  certain 
that  he  had  no  thought  that  among  these  races, 
in  time,  there  would  appear  some  of  the  most 
surprising  triumphs  of  grace,  the  Gospel  has 
anywhere  won. 

It  was  almost  nine  generations  from  that  day 
before  the  Gospel  was  carried  to  these  dark 
islanders.  In  1796,  the  London  Missionary 
Society  sent  out  the  ship  Duff  with  twenty- 
nine  missionaries  to  the  Society  and  Friendly 
Islands.  The  air  was  delicious,  the  scenery 
entrancing,  but  man  was  vile,  unutterably  vile 
There  were  twenty-two  years  of  tearful  sowing 
before  the  first  sheaf  was  gathered.  This  v/as 
in  1819.  Then  the  great  harvest  began.  The 
chiefs,  following  the  king  who  was  the  first 
baptized  convert,  burnt  their  idols.  Wonderful 
89 


90  ESHCOL 

revivals  followed,  and  in  twenty  years,  Chris- 
tianity became  the  only  religion  through  a 
space  of  three  thousand  miles. 

A  generation  ago  the  word  Fiji  was  a  syno- 
nym for  the  fiercest  savagery  conceivable. 
Since  then  it  has  become  a  name  filled  in  with 
a  most  gracious  meaning,  the  history  of  a  mar- 
velous transformation.  This  group  embraces 
more  than  a  hundred  islands  with  about  200,- 
000  people.  The  English  Wesleyans  ventured 
to  land  missionaries  here  in  1835.  The  har- 
vest among  these  fierce  tribes  came  sooner. 
In  thirty  years,  one-half  the  people  had  the 
Scriptures  in  their  own  language  and  couid  read 
them.  More  than  90,000  attended  church 
regularly.  There  were  22,000  communicants; 
6,000  in  school  and  600  native  preachers.  A 
visitor  might  have  seen  aged  chiefs,  sitting 
near  the  ovens  where  their  cannibal  feasts 
aforetime  had  been  prepared,  and  under  the 
shade  of  trees  on  which  was  notched  the  num- 
ber of  their  wretched  victims,  with  tearful  eyes 
and  repentant  hearts,  slowly  spelling  out  the 
blessed  words.  "But  I  say  unto  you.  Love  your 
enemies;"  "Therefore  all  things  whatsoever 
ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even 
so  unto  them." 

Far  over  toward  Australia  and  the  island  of 


EI^ANGEUSM  IN  THE  P/tCIFIC  91 

New  Guinea,  are  the  Solomon  and  Loyalty 
groups.  The  Church  Missionary  Society  of 
England  is  working  among  these  islands  with 
a  grand  success,  and  to  them  the  names  of 
Selwyn,  father  and  son,  and  that  history  of  no- 
ble sacrifice  and  apostolic  labor  connected  with 
the  life  and    martyrdom  of    Bishop    Patterson. 

North  of  the  equator,  and  about  2,100  miles 
southwest  from  the  Golden  Gate,  lie  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  The  story  of  the  marvelous  work 
here  is  too  well  known  to  need  repeating. 
Whatever  may  be  the  future  of  the  Hawaiian 
race,  it  will  always  remain  a  gracious  fact  that, 
under  the  labors  of  missionaries  of  the  American 
Board,  from  60,000  to  70,000  of  this  once 
heathen  people  have  given  evidence  of  changed 
hearts,  the  greater  part  of  them  now  "with  the 
nations  of  them  that  are  saved,"  walking  in  the 
light  of  God. 

Just  thirty-three  years  from  the  time  the 
first  company  of  missionaries  left  Long  Wharf, 
Boston,  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  three  Amer- 
ican and  two  Hawaiian  missionaries  and  their 
wives  embarked  at  Honolulu  for  Micronesia. 
They  bore  from  Kamahamaha  III,  the  Christian 
prince  of  a  kingdom,  made  Christian  in  his 
own  generation — a  noble  letter  of  commenda- 
tion, to  the    Micronesian    chiefs.      It    was  the 


92  ESHCOL 

same  story  here— the  natives,  sullen,  suspi- 
cious, sometimes  violent,  naked,  beastly,  re- 
pulsive in  everything  save  that  they  were  a 
part  of  the  lost  whom  Christ  came  to  seek  and 
to  save;  the  missionaries,  in  perils  oft,  by  sea 
and  by  land,  sometimes  in  hunger,  and  in 
heart-sickness,  sometimes  in  failing  health, 
the  bodily  frame  shriveled,  and  the  life-juices 
sucked  out  by  the  fervid  heat  of  the  tropics, 
yet  patient,  persevering,  bearing  all  things, 
hoping  all  things,  gathering  up  the  fugitive 
words  of  languages  that  existed  only  in  the 
breath  and  memory  of  the  men  that  uttered 
them,  pouring  into  this  turbid  stream  the  life- 
giving  power  of  the  gospel,  and  at  last,  after 
eight  long  years  of  toil,  seeing  the  first  native 
soul  hopefully  born  into  the  dear  kingdom  of 
Christ. 

"Weeping  may  endure  for  a  night,  but  joy 
Cometh  in  the  morning."  In  this  case  it  was 
the  "joy  of  harvest." 

It  is  not  possible  for  any  human  philosophy 
to  account  for  the  moral  transformations,  rapid 
and  total,  that  have  taken  place  in  some  of 
these  islands.  "Whole  companies  of  men  and 
women,  sodden  with  every  beastly  abomina- 
tion, in  a  few  months'  time  changed  into  pure 
and  humble    Christians,  their    persons  clotheci 


El^/fNGELISM  IN  THE  PACIFIC  93 

their  homes  made  tidy,  their  hearts  cleansed, 
honoring  the  marriage  bond,  and  looking  back 
upon  their  former  thefts  and  revelings,  adul- 
teries and  murders,  only  with  shame  and  ut- 
ter loathing;  and  then  seeking,  with  a  yearn- 
ing and  Christ-like  love,  to  draw  into  the  same 
blessed  fellowship,  those  of  their  kind  who 
still  live  in  the  old  condemnation, — this  can 
come  only  from  the  inworking  and  omnipotent 
grace  of  God.  And  this  outreaching  of  heart 
does  not  circumscribe  itself  by  the  shores  of 
the  one  island  in  which  they  live.  They  never 
plead  the  excuse,  "There  is  so  much  to  do  at 
home."  The  old  hate  led  them  across  to  other 
islands  in  deadly  warfare.  Why  should  not  the 
new  love  take  them  to  the  same  islands  with 
the  Gospel  of  peace?  And  they  go.  Not  less 
than  twenty  of  these  newly  transformed  peo- 
ple, carried  by  the  Mor7iing  Star,  arc  laboring  in 
evangelistic  ways  on  islands  distant  from  their 
own,  some  of  them  with  people  speaking  a 
different  language,  so  that  it  is  as  really  for- 
eign missionary  work  to  them  as  ours  in  Tur- 
key is  to  us.  No  less  than  nine  islands  in  the 
Caroline  group,  and  nearly  as  many  more  in 
the  Gilbert  and  Marshall  groups,  within  the 
last  decade  have  been  evangelized  in  this  way. 
Three  training  schools,  two  in  Kusaie,  and  one 


94  ESHCOL 

in  Ponape,  with  more  than  seventy  pupils,  are 
in  operation  with  a  view  to  raise  up  teach- 
ers for  a  like  work  in  the  fast  opening  islands 
beyond.  If  one  needs  an  argument  for  the 
divine  presence  in  the  world  let  him  study  the 
work  of  God  in  Micronesia.  It  will  be  diffi- 
cult for  the  toughest  unbelief  to  stand  against 
the  evidence  furnished  by  the  fifty  churches 
and  the  five  thousand  Christians  in  twenty 
years  gathered  out  of  the  pollutions  of  heathen- 
ism in  these  far  islands  of  the  sea. 

A  WHALER  AT     KUSAIE. 

Captain  James  Willis,  of  New  Bedford,  com- 
mander of  the  whaler,  Bartholomew  Gonold, 
in  1875  put  into  the  harbor  of  Kusaie,  in  dis- 
tress. A  wide  leak  below  the  water's  edge 
made  it  necessary  to  beach  the  ship  and  "heel" 
her  over,  in  order  to  get  at  the  place  and  repair 
it.  In  earlier  years,  he  would  not  have  dared 
to  enter  the  harbor  at  all.  No  less  than  three 
ships  had  been  seized  here  by  the  natives,  the 
crews  massacred,  and  the  vessels  burnt.  But 
the  missionaries  had  been  here.  It  had  be- 
come a  Christian  land.  "If  they  had  been  my 
own  brothers,"  said  the  Captain,  "they  could 
not  have  treated  me  more  kindly."  The  chief 
gave  him  the  use  of  a  large  canoe-house.      His 


EVANGELISM  IN  THE  PACIFIC  95 

people  joined  with  the  sailors  in  removing  the 
goods,  which  lay  exposed  for  several  days, 
and  then  assisted  in  carrying  them  back,  and 
stowing  them  in  the  hold.  "Not  a  shoe-string 
was  missing,"  said  the  grateful  Captain,  and 
on  his  return,  he  told  his  employers  that  the 
kindness  of  the  natives  had  saved  them  $io,- 
ooo.  And  this  was  done  without  the  offer  of 
a  cent  of  compensation.  The  owners  declined 
to  make  any  return,  regarding  it,  doubtless, 
as  a  "streak  of  good  luck."  But  the  Captain, 
out  of  pure  shame,  sent  them  back  a  box  of 
calicoes  and  cottons.  Missions  do  pay,  even 
if  those  who  receive  the  benefit  are  not  always 
the  ones  who  support  them. 

WHAT   A   CHURCH    MEANS. 

A  crew  of  sailors,  who,  to  use  their  own 
phrase,  "did  not  take  any  stock  in  missions  to 
the  Cannibals,"  by  a  somewhat  rough  expe- 
rience, changed  their  minds.  Cruising  among 
one  of  these  Pacific  groups,  their  vessel  struck 
a  reef,  and  foundered.  There  was  no  alter- 
native but  to  take  to  the  boats  and  row  ashore, 
although,  according  to  their  information,  it 
was  a  choice  between  the  sharks  and  the  na- 
tives. The  part  of  the  coast  where  they  land- 
ed happening  to  be  uninhabited,  they  hid  them- 


96  ESHCOL 

selves  in  a  hollow,  until  it  became  necessary 
to  eat,  even  at  the  risk  of  being  eaten  them- 
selves. At  length,  one  of  the  boldest  ventured 
to  climb  to  the  top  of  a  hill,  where  he  could 
look  over  into  the  populous  valley  beyond. 
All  at  once  his  fear-stricken  companions  saw 
him  spring  to  his  feet  and  swing  his  hat, 
shouting,  "Come  on,  boys,  I  see  a  church!" 


THE  STORY  OF  NIWE. 

A  conversation  which  Mr.  Logan  had  with 
an  English  lady  at  Auckland,  two  years'  since, 
on  his  circuitous  route  home  from  Micronesia, 
recalls  a  remarkable  story  in  the  early  stages 
of  mission  work  at  the  Society  Islands.  There 
was  an  island  to  the  westward  apart  from  all 
the  other  groups.  It  was  a  very  Ishmael  of 
the  seas.  The  inhabitants,  numbering  about 
5,000,  were  so  utterly  fierce  and  intractable 
that  it  was  called,  and  is  still  known,  on  many 
maps,  as  Savage  Island.  If  by  any  stress  of 
accident  or  storm  strangers  landed  on  its 
shores,  they  were  immediately  sacrificed  for 
inhuman  feasts.  But,  notwithstanding  this  ill- 
savored  reputation,  a  number  of  the  first  So- 
ciety Island  converts,  in  the  surprise  of  their 
new  life,  determined  to  make  an  attempt  to 
introduce  the  Gospel.  The  result  was  fatal  to 
the  whole  company.  About  three  years  after- 
ward, a  native  convert  named  Luke,  sought 
permission  of  the  missionaries  to  make  an- 
other trial.  They  at  last  consented,  feeling 
97 


I 


98  ESHCOL 


that,  perhaps,  it  was  the  call  of  God.  He  was 
taken  as  near  the  island  as  the  ship  dare  go, 
and  then,  with  as  true  a  martyr  spirit  as  an 
early  Christian  ever  showed  in  the  amphithea- 
ter, he  deliberately  bound  his  little  bundle  of 
clothes  and  a  Testament,  on  his  head,  and 
plunging  into  the  surf,  swam  ashore.  He  was 
immediately  seized  and  carried  back  into  the 
island  for  sacrifice,  as  his  comrades  had  been 
before.  By  signs  and  a  few  words  common  to 
the  two  languages, .  however,  he  induced  them 
to  hear  a  story.  It  was  the  old,  old  story,  the 
death  of  Jesus  on  the  cross.  They  were  in- 
terested, and  spared  him  till  the  next  day. 
But  now,  having  gained  their  ear,  he  told  them 
other  stories  of  the  blessed  Christ.  They 
were  soon  won,  and  made  him  their  teacher. 
Two  or  three  years  later,  the  little  missionary 
ship  ventured  near  these  shores  again.  To  the 
astonishment  and  delight  of  all,  they  found 
the  whole  island  revolutionized.  Heathenism 
had  been  renounced  and  the  entire  people  de- 
sired to  be  taught  the  Christian  way.  A  white 
missionary  was  left  among  them,  and  in  due 
time  it  became  thoroughly  evangelized.  That 
happened  more  than  fifty  years  ago.  But  now 
comes  the  modern  part  of  the  story.  It  seems 
about  ten  years   since,  this    people — of  course 


THE  STORY  OF  NllVE  99 

it  was  a  new  generation — had  sent  out  two  of 
their  number  with  their  wives,  in  connection 
with  natives  of  other  islands,  as  missionaries 
to  the  savages  on  the  north  shore  of  New 
Guinea.  The  English  lady  spoken  of  above, 
told  Mr.  Logan  that  she  was  on  this  island 
of  Niwe,  when  sad  tidings  reached  them.  It 
was  at  a  public  meeting.  She  said,  "I  never 
saw  such  a  scene."  When  it  was  announced 
to  them  that  while  their  missionaries  to  that 
distant  shore,  with  those  from  other  islands 
were  gathered  in  one  of  their  houses  for  con- 
ference, they  had  been  set  upon  by  a  hostile 
chief  and  the  whole  company  had  been  massa- 
cred, the  entire  audience  broke  forth  in  outcries 
and  weeping.  But  with  prayer,  calmness 
came.  And  then  when  the  question  was  asked, 
"Who  will  go  to  take  the  place  of  our  mar- 
tyred missionaries?"  twenty  rose  to  their  feet 
and  thus  offered  themselves  for  this  desperate 
service.  It  was  a  spectacle  simply  sublime. 
A  suitable  number  were  selected,  and  now  a 
prosperous  mission  is  the  happy  result  of  their 
hazardous  labors. 


MISSIONS  AND  THE  SKEPTICS. 

Nothing  more  effectually  clears  up  doubt 
than  to  turn  from  speculation  to  fact.  The  his- 
tory of  Christianity  gives  a  multitude  of  in- 
stances of  moral  transformations,  the  marvel 
of  which  finds  no  adequate  solution  in  any  sys- 
tem of  unbelief.  Take  a  man  born  in  a  heathen 
country.  Add  to  the  tenacity  of  habit,  the 
hunger  of  evil  passions,  the  entrenchments  of 
selfishness,  which  are  within;  add  to  these  the 
mighty  influences  which  ancestry,  family, 
education,  caste,  idolatrous  worship,  priest- 
craft, country,  social  customs,  weave  about  him 
— all  making  a  hundred-armed  power  to  hold 
him  to  his  native  condition.  See  the  whole 
drift  of  such  a  man's  life  turned  back  in  com- 
plete and  permanent  reversal  in  a  year,  turned 
by  setting  before  him  the  simplest  ideas  of  the 
Christian  faith — ideas  which  everything  within 
and  around  him  rises  up  in  loathing  and  detes- 
tation to  oppose;  and  who  that  knows  himself, 
who  that  knows  men,  looking  upon  this  can 
resist  the  evidence  that  here  is  a  divine  inter- 
100 


MISSIONS  /1ND  THE  SKEPTICS  101 

position?  In  the  eye  of  a  true  philosophy  it 
is  stranger  than  miracle.  Regeneration  is  the 
paramount  miracle.  And  when  these  changes 
in  individuals  become  so  numerous  that  the 
national  life  in  a  single  generation  is  trans- 
formed, the  evidence  ought  to  be  reckoned 
complete. 

If  we  mistake  not  Madagascar  gives  such  an 
instance. 

Here  is  an  island  in  the  Indian  ocean,  so 
set  off  from  the  continents  that  it  stands,  in 
some  sort,  a  world  by  itself.  The  fever  cli- 
mate of  its  coasts,  and  the  fierce  valor  of  the 
three  or  four  millions  of  its  people,  have  fenced 
it  off  in  an  unusual  degree  from  outside  influ- 
ence. Lying  in  this  almost  complete  isolation, 
it  is  eminently  fitted  as  a  theatre  on  which  to 
exhibit,  with  the  least  complication  the  proof 
of  which  we  speak.  Education,  mechanical  arts, 
trade  and  the  like,  have  sent  in  through  the 
closed  doors  some  impulse.  J3ut  the  craft, 
vices  and  corruption  of  civilization  have  gone 
in  also  with  equal  step.  Very  little  of  the 
change  wrought  can  be  claimed  for  these.  The 
transformations  have  been  so  rapid,  that  they 
cannot  be  said  to  have  come  about  by  any  pro- 
cess of  social  evolution  slowly  working  through 
successive  ages.      The    new    conditions,  what- 


102  ESHCOL  ' 

ever  they  be  are  chiefly  due,  unquestionably, 
to  causes  distinctly  Christian. 

Fifty  years  ago  missionaries  went  among 
this  people.  They  found  them  not  without 
some  of  the  arts,  not  without  some  virtues — a 
so-called  semi-civilized  race.  But  the  govern- 
ment was  absolute  and  cruel.  Fierce  wars  de- 
populated whole  districts.  Slavery  and  the 
slave  trade  prevailed.  In  the  rude  courts  bri- 
bery was  almost  universal.  Criminals  were 
tortured  to  death  with  unheard-of  barbarity. 
Honesty  was  scarcely  known.  Children  were 
taught  deception  as  an  accomplishment.  The 
people,  from  highest  to  lowest,  were  great 
thieves.  Female  chastity  was  of  the  least  ac- 
count, and  children  born  on  unlucky  days  were 
murdered  without  compunction.  The  religious 
tendency  of  the  people  seemed  downward. 
There  is  evidence  that  the  gross  idolatry 
found  when  the  missionaries  arrived  was  a 
corruption  of  a  simple  and  comparatively  spirit- 
ual worship  in  earlier  times.  Their  gods  were 
beings  or  things  without  mercy,  virtue  or  in- 
telligence, and  the  priests  were  men,  covetous 
and  cruel. 

Upon  a  people  so  conditioned  the  forces  of 
Christianity  were  brought  to  bear.  It  was  a 
rough  fight.      To  human  eye  only  the    infatua- 


MISSIONS  AND  THE  SKEPTICS  103 

tion  of  folly  would  make  the  attempt.  False 
friends  imperiled  the  movement.  Disease, 
ignorance,  bigotry,  persecutions,  tortures, 
treachery,  fought  against  it.  And  yet,  in  less 
than  half  a  century  we  find  a  constitutional 
government.  Christian  rulers,  religious  toler- 
ation, a  written  language,  multitudes  in 
schools,  tasteful  homes,  a  numerous  native 
ministry,  large  and  costly  churches,  congrega- 
tions of  decorous  worshipers  by  the  hundreds, 
and  the  whole  people  instinct  and  astir  with 
Christian  ideas  and  aspirations.  The  move- 
ment is  still  crude  in  the  remote  districts. 
There  ,are  many  yet  to  be  evangelized.  But 
the  life-currents  of  the  nation  all  set  with  an 
irresistible  drift  toward  the  new  religion. 

It  is  not  in  our  plan  to  trace  the  details  of 
this  transformation.  We  touch  them  only  as 
they  bear  upon  the  argument. 

I.  The  mission  to  this  rude  people  was 
born  of  no  zeal  of  science  or  impulse  of  mere 
humanity.  The  urgent  power  was  those  truths, 
vital  to  the  evangelical  faith,  which  skeptics, 
especially  repudiate.  These  men  are  sinners. 
They  are  under  sentence  of  inevitable  law. 
Faith  in  the  sacrifice  which  Christ  made  for 
them  on  the  cross  can  save  them.  The  knowl- 
edge of  this  comes  through  the  inspired  Word. 


104  ESHCOL 

The  power  that  opens  the  heart  and  makes 
the  Word  effectual  to  produce  faith,  is  God 
present  in  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
missionaries  believed  this.  And  love  for  these 
lost  men,  begotten  by  this  belief — a  love  un- 
heard-of in  philosophy,  scoffed  at  by  science, 
was  that  which  sent  them  out  to  their  peril- 
ous work. 

2.  The  means  and  the  results  are  in  utter 
disparity,  if  the  idea  of  divine  helps  is  ex- 
cluded. A  few  English  artisans  were  there. 
But  they  were  Christians,  and  were  sent  to 
teach,  with  their  trades,  religion  as  well.  Ed- 
ucation did  something.  But  it  is  a  noticeable 
fact  that  much  the  larger  number  of  converts 
proportionately  was  among  the  unlearned,  and 
that  these,  then,  became  chief  in  the  educa- 
tional movement.  The  leaven  hid  in  this  mass 
of  heathenism  was  chiefly  the  Bible.  The 
ferment  that  followed  was  not  even  produced, 
to  any  large  degree,  by  the  preaching  of  the 
Word.  The  missionaries  reduced  the  lan- 
guage to  writing,  translated  the  Bible  and  a 
few  tracts  into  it,  taught  a  few  thousands  of 
the  people  to  read,  made  about  two  hundred 
converts,  and  then  were  excluded  from  the  is- 
land. But  the  truth  could  not  be  cast  out 
after  them.   The  Bible  and  its    progeny  of  new 


MISSIONS  y4ND  THE  SKEPTICS  105 

ideas  worked  on  alone,  and  against  all  the 
power  of  the  government  wielded  to  crush  it, 
wrought  out  the  marvelous  results. 

3.  The  tenacity  of  life  in  the  new  work, 
and  its  wonderful  growth,  cannot  be  accounted 
for  on  natural  principles.  It  was  a  little  slip 
brought  from  a  foreign  soil,  that  grew  into 
this  grand  tree.  Under  the  most  adverse  con- 
ditions it  took  root  and  continued  to  flourish. 
The  natural  thing  for  it  was  to  die.  The  su- 
pernatural thing  it  did  do  was  to  lift  toward 
the  heavens  great  branches,  and  crowd  them 
with  leaves  for  the  healing  of  the  nation. 

There  is  no  story  more  thrilling  in  all  history 
than  that  of  the  martyr  church  of  Madagascar. 
Shut  out  from  the  knowledge  and  help  of 
Christendom  for  twenty-five  years,  the  perse- 
cutions of  Nero  were  not  more  atrocious  than 
were  those  let  loose  upon  this  little  flock  of 
native  Christians.  Many  of  the  suspected  ones 
fled  to  the  jungles  or  to  inaccessible  retreats 
among  the  densely  wooded  hills.  But  the  Queen 
in  her  fury  declared  that  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  must  be  searched,  and  the  rivers  and 
lakes  dragged  with  nets  to  find  them.  More 
than  ten  thousand  persons  suffered  punishment, 
many  of  whom  were  put  to  death  with  excru- 
ciating   tortures.    Spies    tracked    them   to  the 


106  ESHCOL 

\ 

mountain  fastnesses.  Treachery  betrayed 
whole  companies  to  the  executioner.  Slavery, 
imprisonment,  chains,  did  their  worst  Cast 
from  precipices,  burnt  at  the  stake,  stoned, 
poisoned  by  the  hundreds  with  the  tangena 
bowl,  natural  sense  demands  that  they  should 
have  given  up  their  fanatical  folly.  This  church 
in  the  wilderness  ought  to  have  died.  There  is 
no  reason  why  a  fragment  of  it  should  have 
been  found  when  Madagascar  again  opened  its 
doors  to  the  world.  And  yet  through  all  these 
fires  the  hundreds  grew  to  thousands.  The 
divine  leaven  spread  into  distant  hamlets, 
crept  among  the  mountains,  and  at  last  reached 
the  royal  palace.  The  bloody  Queen  died. 
Gentler  sovereigns  followed,  and  one  day  the 
now  reigning  Queen  bowed  her  head  in  bap- 
tism, bringing  at  once  herself  into  the  church, 
and  her  kingdom  into  the  rank  of  Christian 
nations. 

4.  Natural  law  finds  no  adequate  cause  for 
the  changes  wrought  in  individual  lives. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  this  people  had 
no  traditions  of  a  godly  ancestry  to  stand  be- 
hind them.  No  histories  of  fidelity  to  a  true 
religious  faith  in  the  past  inspired  them.  They 
were  heathen.  All  their  surroundings  were 
heathen.     They  were  born    into  heathen    fam- 


MISSIONS  AND  THE  SKEPTICS  107 

ilies,  and  heathenish  customs  and  corruptions 
were  woven  into  the  very  texture  of  their  be- 
ings as  they  grew. 

To  change  such  lives  into  Christian  lives  is 
the  greatest  marvel  of  all.  When,  as  we  should 
say,  they  became  regenerate,  the  thief  grew  hon  • 
est;  the  hands  of  judges,  foul  with  taking 
bribes,  forgot  their  cunning;  men  and  women, 
in  whose  minds  the  idea  of  chastity  had  to  be 
almost  created,  learned  the  meaning  of  do- 
mestic faithfulness.  The  entrance  of  the  Word 
gave  light,  and  even  the  aged  converts  sought 
the  schools.  In  the  place  of  superstitious  fears, 
came  comforting  hopes.  Bitterness  and  re- 
venge, those  most  human  passions,  strangely 
went  out  of  their  hearts,  and  a  spirit  of  pity 
and  forgiveness  came  in.  The  homely  virtues, 
thrift,  cleanliness,  industry,  grew  apace.  But 
beyond  these,  and  higher,  their  new  faith 
wrought  in  them  wonderful  zeal  and  tender- 
ness for  the  conversion  of  their  countrymen, 
and  a  loving  fidelity  to  each  other,  which 
even  philosophy  would  say  was  beautiful.  And 
then  there  was  a  patience,  and  a  holy  joy  in 
enduring  the  trials  of  persecution,  a  lifting  up 
of  themselves  above  themselves  so  that  they 
could  pray  for  their  executioners  and  invoke 
blessings  upon  the  bloody-handed  Queen,  such 


108  ESHCOL 

as  seemed  almost  divine.  It  is  incredible  that 
such  a  death  of  the  old  nature  and  such  a 
bringing  in  of  a  new  life  should  come  from 
any  other  than  a  supernatural  source. 

Other  meh  have  died  for  an  idea.  Indian 
braves  deride  their  tormentors,  and  stand  de- 
fiant to  the  last.  The  Girondists  sang  baccha- 
nalian songs  on  the  eve  of  their  execution. 
But  outside  of  Christian  lines,  history  has  no 
parallel  to  the  scenes  of  these  martyrdoms. 
Many  times  were  incidents  like  these  repeated: 
A  company  of  eighteen  are  condemned,  some 
to  be  thrown  from  a  precipice,  and  some  to  be 
burned.  Every  device  has  been  tried  to  make 
them  renounce  their  faith.  Two  words  spro- 
nounced  would  save  them  from  the  burning,  de- 
liver their  families  from  slavery,  and  give  them 
back  their  homes  and  possessions.  But  no  one 
falters.  No  lips  utter  the  rescuing  words,  "/ 
recant."  High-born  women,  gentle  maidens, 
noble-browed  men  who  have  borne  offices  of 
state,  humble  slaves,  timid  servants  are  there, 
all  in  one  brotherhood  of  faith  and  suffering. 
Bound  to  poles  in  a  painful  manner  and  borne 
on  the  shoulders  of  fierce  men,  there  are  no 
fanatic  shouts,  no  putting  on  a  desperate  show 
of  bravery,  as  they  pass  along.  They  pray, 
exhort  the  people  and  sign  hymns  of  Jesus  and 


MISSIONS  AND  THE  SKEPTICS  109 

heaven.  There  are  no  trembling  voices.  Those 
that  see  them  say  their  faces  are  as  the  faces 
of  angels.  As  they  who  are  pushed  with  spears 
from  the  precipice,  drop  through  the  air  far 
down  to  the  jagged  rocks  below,  the  song  of 
their  triumph  over  death  rings  back  to  the  ears 
of  the  amazed  multitude  above.  Four  are  to 
perish  at  the  stake.  The  mangled  bodies  of 
those  who  have  been  dashed  on  the  rocks  are 
dragged  to  the  spot  to  be  burned  in  the  same 
fire.  As  the  flames  rise  about  them,  they  sing 
the  hymn,  "There  is  a  blessed  land."  "That 
was  the  hymn,"  says  the  native  chronicle, 
"they  sang  after  they  were  in  the  fire.  Then 
they  prayed,  saying,  'O  Lord,  receive  our 
spirits;  for  thy  love  to  us  has  caused  this  to 
come  to  us:  and  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge.'  Thus  they  prayed  as  long  as  they 
had  any  life.  Then  they  died,  and  gently  was 
the  going  forth  of  their  life,  and  astonished 
were  all  the  people  around  that  beheld  the 
burning  of  them  there."  Astonished!  Philos- 
ophy is  astonished.  It  finds  no  place  for  such 
a  scene.  Unbelief  stands  dumb  before  this 
spectacle.  If  there  be  no  infinite  Father  as  a 
living  factor  in  the  world's  affairs;  if  Jesus 
Christ  be  not  able  to  enter  men's  hearts  with 
a  supernatural    grace;  if  there  be  no  sanctify- 


110  ESHCOL 


ing  and  uplifting  Holy  Ghost,  there  is  no  ex- 
planation of  this  wondrous  story.  It  must 
stand  forever  amongst  the  unsolved  mysteries. 


AN  EVENING    WITH    AN  OLD  MIS- 
SIONARY. 

One  day  last  week  a  man  of  humble  appear- 
ance, about  seventy  years  of  age,  called  at  our 
office,  and  was  introduced  by  a  stranger  as  the 
Rev.  H.  H.  Spaulding,  of  Oregon.  We  had 
heard  something  of  his  labors  as  a  missionary 
among  the  Indians  in  that  region,  and  were 
glad  to  take  the  veteran  by  the  hand.  He  was 
on  the  way  to  his  old  home  at  the  East,  after 
an  absence  of  thirty-four  years,  and  intended 
to  stay  over  but  a  single  train  in  Chicago.  The 
few  words  we  could  then  have  together,  led 
us  to  press  him  to  share  our  hospitalities  for 
the  night,  which  he  accepted. 

"Dr.  Whitman's  wife  and  mine,  "  said  the  mis- 
sionary, as  we  drew  up  our  chairs  about  the 
study  table,  and  opened  our  "Colton"  to  the 
right  map,  "were  the  first  white  women  that 
ever  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains.  That  saved 
Oregon  to  the  Union.  It  was  God's  plan  to 
give  the  wealth  of  the  Pacific  slope  to  the 
United  States,  through  the  agency  of  mission- 
Ill 


112  ESHCOL 

aries. "  We  asked  for  an  explanation.  "The 
Northwestern  territory  was  then  occupied  by 
the  Hudson's  Bay  Company.  Who  should 
finally  possess  it — England  or  the  United  States 
— depended  upon  who  could  first  settle  it  with 
an  immigration.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
desired  to  secure  it  for  their  half-breeds  and 
the  Jesuits.  They  were  slowly  creeping  down 
from  Selkirk  settlement,  here  on  the  north," 
pointing  it  out  on  the  map,  "and  silently  taking 
possession  with  forts  and  trading  posts.  Neith- 
er wagons  nor  women,  they  industriously  said, 
can  ever  pass  the  terrible  rock  barriers  that 
wall  out  Oregon  from  the  United  States.  Trap 
pers,  traders,  travelers,  everybody  echoed  the 
words,  'No  white  woman  can  cross  the  moun- 
tains and  live.'  Seven  different  companies  of 
male  emigrants  from  the  East  had  been  shrewd- 
ly harried  out  of  the  country  by  their  mach- 
inations. But  they  couldn't  do  it  with  us," 
said  he,  rising,  excitedly.  "When  the  mis- 
sionaries, with  their  wives  and  a  wagon,  ap- 
peared on  the  'divide*  one  of  them  said: 
'Here  is  somebody  that  you  can't  get  rid  of 
so  easy.      These  folks  have  come  to  stay.''* 

"But  how  came  you  to  go?"  we  asked.  And 
then  for  four  hours  of  the  rarest  interest  we 
listened  to  the  wonderful  story.      It  would  take 


/iN  EyENIhIG  IVITH   /IN  OLD  MISSION/1RY      113 

a  volume  to  unfold  it.    We  must  press  it  into 
the  briefest  possible  space. 

THE   MACKUONIAN   NEZ   PERCES. 

About  their  council  fire,  in  solemn  conclave 
— it  was  in  the  year  1832 — the  Flat  Heads  and 
Nez  Perces  had  determined  to  send  four  of 
their  number  to  "the  Rising  Sun"'  for  "that 
Book  from  Heaven."  They  had  got  word  of 
the  Bible  and  a  Savior  in  some  way,  from  the 
Iroquois.  These  four  dusky  wise  men,  one  of 
them  a  chief,  who  had  thus  dimly  "seen  His 
star  in  the  east,"  made  their  way  to  St.  Louis. 
And  it  is  significant  of  the  perils  of  this  thous- 
and miles'  journey  that  only  one  of  them  sur- 
vived to  return.  They  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Gen.  Clark,  who,  with  Lewis,  had  traveled  ex- 
tensively in  the  regions  of  the  Columbia 
river.  He  was  a  Romanist,  and  took  them  to 
his  church,  and,  to  entertain  them,  to  the 
theater.  How  utterlj'  he  failed  to  meet 
their  wants  is  revealed  in  the  sad  words  with 
which  they  departed:  "I  came  to  you" — and 
the  survivor  repeated  the  words  years  after- 
ward to  Mr.  Spaulding — "with  one  eye  partly 
opened  ;  I  go  back  with  both  eyes  closed  and 
both  arms  broken.  My  people  sent  me  to  ob- 
tain that  Book  from  Heaven.  You  took  me 
where  your    women  dance  as    we  do  not  allow 


114  ESHCOL 

ours  to  dance ;  and  the  Book  was  not  there. 
You  took  me  where  I  saw  men  worship  God 
with  candles;  and  the  Book  was  not  there.  I 
am  now  to  return  without  it,  and  my  people 
will  die  in  darkness."  And  so  they  took  their 
leave.  But  this  sad  lament  was  overheard. 
A  young  man  wrote  it  to  his  friends  in  Pitts- 
burg. They  showed  the  account  to  Catlin,  of 
Indian  portrait  fame,  who  had  just  come  from 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  "He  said.  It  cannot  be; 
those  Indians  were  in  our  company,  and  I  heard 
nothing  of  this.  Wait  till  I  write  to  Clark 
before  you  publish  it."  He  wrote.  The  re- 
sponse was,  "It  is  true,  That  was  the  sole 
object  of  their  visit — to  get  the  Bible."  Then 
Catlin  said,  "Give  it  to  the  world. "  The  Meth- 
odists at  once  commissioned  Rev.  Mr.  Lee  to 
go  and  find  this  tribe  who  had  so  strangely 
broken  out  of  their  darkness  toward  the  light. 
Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  of  the  American  Board, 
who  was  too  late  for  the  overland  caravan  for 
that  summer,  followed  the  next  year.  Lee 
found  the  Nez  Perces.  But  so  fearful  were  the 
ridges  and  the  ravines  of  the  path  to  them, 
and  so  wild  the  country  where  they  roamed, 
that  the  gift  of  ten  horses  with  which  they 
plead  their  cause  could  not  keep  him.  He 
pushed  on  to  the    tribes  living  near  the  coast, 


AN  EVENING  H^ITH  AN  OLD  MISSIONARY      115 

and  sent  for  his  wife  and  associates  by  the 
way  of  Cape  Horn. 

woman's    heroism. 

It  was  with  great  joy  the  Nez  Perces  wel- 
comed Whitman  the  next  year.  Having  ex- 
plored the  situation,  and  taking  with  him  two 
boys,  which  the  Indians  had  placed  in  his 
hands  as  hostages,  in  some  sort,  for  his  re- 
turn, he  went  back  for  his  intended  wife,  and 
to  secure  others  for  the  work.  But  who  would 
go?  Men  could  be  found.  But  where  was  the 
woman  willing  to  brave  the  vague  horrors  of 
that  "howling  wilderness?"  His  betrothed 
consented.  But  an  associate,  and  he  a  married 
man,  must  be  obtained.  More  than  a  score  of 
most  devoted  ones  were  applied  to  in  vain. 
Friends  said.  It  is  madness  to  make  the  at- 
tempt. And  we  do  not  wonder;  for  that  country 
and  the  way  between,  in  the  popular  impres- 
sion, was  a  dark  unknown,  full  of  terrors. 

"The  Dead  are  there  where  rolls  the  Oregon," 

wrote  Bryant.  The  dead  were  there,  and  the 
bones  of  not  a  few  luckless  emigrants  strewed 
the  path  to  the  movmtains. 

A  year  was  spent  in  the  search  for  associates, 
and  then  light  came  from  an  unexpected  quar- 


116  ESHCOL 

ter.  In  the  early  spring  of  1836,  a  sleigh,  ex- 
temporized from  a  wagon,  was  craunching 
through  the  deep  snows  of  western  New  York. 
It  contained  Rev.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spaulding, 
who  were  on  their  way,  under  commission  of 
the  American  Board,  to  the  Osage  Indians. 
The  wife  had  started  from  a  bed  of  lingering 
illness,  and  was  then  able  to  walk  less  than  a 
quarter  of  a  mile. 

.  Dr.  Whitman,  having  heard  of  the  rare  cour- 
age of  this  woman,  by  permission  of  the 
Board,  started  in  pursuit. 

"We  want  you  for  Oregon,"  was  the  hail 
with  which  he  overtook  them. 

"How  long  will  the  journey  take." 

"The  summers  of  two  years." 

"What  convoy  shall  we  have?" 

"The  American  Fur  Company  to  the  'divide.'" 

"What  shall  we  have  to  live  on?" 

"Buffalo  meat,  till  we  can  raise  our  own 
grain." 

"How  shall  we  journey?" 

"On  horseback," 

"How  cross  the  rivers?" 

"Swim  them." 

After  this  brief  dialogue,  and  we  give  it 
precisel)'  in  his  own  words,  Mr.  Spaulding 
turned  to  his  wife  and  said: 


AN  EVENING  IVITH  /IN  OLD  MISSION /I  RY      117 

"My  dear,  my  mind  is  made  up.  It  is  not 
your  duty  to  go;  but  we  will  leave  it  to  you 
after  we  have  prayed. " 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  a  tavern  in 
the  town  of  Howard,  N.  Y.  Taking  a  private 
room,  they  each  prayed  in  turn,  and  then  left 
Mrs.  Spaulding  to  herself.  In  about  ten  min- 
utes she  appeared  with  a  beaming  face,  and 
said,  "I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  go." 

"But  your  health,  my  dear." 

"I  like  the  command  just  as  it  stands,  'Go 
ye  into  all  the  world,'  and  no  exception  for 
poor  health." 

'But  the  perils,  in  your  weak  condition — 
you  don't  begin  to  think  how  great  they  are." 

"The  dangers  of  the  way  and  the  weakness 
of  my  body  are  His;    duty  is  mine." 

"But  the  Indians  will  take  you  prisoner. 
They  are  frantic  for  such  captives.  You  will 
never  see  your  friends  again" — and  the  strong 
man  broke  down  and  began  to  cry. 

Was  it  the  wife  that  answered,  or  was  it  a 
voice  from  the  old  time? 

"What  mean  ye  to  weep  and  to  break  mine 
heart?  for  I  am  ready,  not  to  be  bound  only, 
but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem,  or  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

"Then,"   said  the  veteran,  with    a  charming 


118  ESHCOL 

simplicity,  "I  had  to  come  to  it.  I  didn't  know 
anything." 

"Well,  you  were  crazy,"  we  interposed,  "to 
think  of  such  a  journey  and  she  so  weak." 

"We  were,  but  God  meant  to  have  us  go. 
He  wanted  to  have  an  emigration  go  across 
the  mountains,  and  this  was  the  way  he  took 
to  start  it." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spaulding  continued  their 
journey,  and  Whitman,  sending  forward  to  his 
bride  to  be  ready,  went  back  for  his  Indian 
boys — they  were  then  about  sixteen  years  old 
— and  pressed  on  after  them.  There  was  a 
hasty  wedding  by  the  way,  and  then  the  bridal 
tour  began. 

But  the  strife  of  parting  was  not  yet  over. 
At  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis — all  along 
the  way— hands  were  stretched  out  to  hold 
them  back.  Catlin,  at  Pittsburg,  assured  them 
they  could  not  take  women  through.  The  hos- 
tile Indians  that  hover  about  the  convoy  would 
fight  against  any  odds  to  capture  them.  One 
woman  had  tried  it,  but  the  company  was 
massacred,  and  she  was  dragged  away  and 
never  heard  of  again.  Mrs.  Spaulding  was  es- 
pecially beset  with  these  tales  of  horror.  "But," 
said  the  husband,  with  an  honest  pride,  "it 
didn't  move  her  a  hair." 


/(hi  EyENING  IVITH  ^N  OLD  MISSIONARY      119 
A    SUNDAY   ON    SHORE. 

An  incident,  by  the  way,  should  be  noted 
here.  The  party  took  boat  at  Pittsburgh.  Sat- 
urday night  found  them  between  Cairo  and  St. 
Louis.  Mrs.  Spaulding,  who  seems  to  have 
had  a  good  share  both  of  the  courage  and  the 
conscience  of  the  company,  insisted  that  they 
should  be  put  on  shore  to  spend  Sunday.  The 
captain  and  the  passengers  laughed  at  her 
scruples.  But  she  said,  "Out  on  the  plains 
we  shall  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  Fur  Company, 
and  must  go  on.      Here  we  can  stop." 

"But  no  boat  will  ever  call  at  such  an  out 
of  the  way  place  as  this  to  take  you  off." 

"We'll  take  the  chances  of  that.  Put  us  on 
shore." 

The  New  England  home  missionary  marked 
that  day  in  white  which  brought  such  a  rare 
accession  to  his  little  meeting  in  the  school- 
house.  He  said  it  was  like  an  angel's  visit. 
Early  Monday  morning  a  great  puffing  was 
heard  below,  and  a  grand  steamer,  better  than 
the  one  they  had  left,  rounded  to  at  their  sig- 
nal and  took  them  on  board.  Sixty  miles  above 
they  overtook  the  other  boat  hopelessly  strand- 
ed on  a  sand  bar! 

At  St.  Louis  the  missionaries  found  the 
American  Fur  Company  fitting  out  their  annual 


120  ESHCOL 

expedition  for  the  mountains.  But  as  the  two 
wives  were  along,  they  could  not  have  secured 
•a  place  in  the  caravan  had  not  Whitman  been 
in  special  favor  by  his  services  rendered  the 
year  before.  It  seems  that,  on  his  previous 
trip,  a  few  days  out  from  Council  Bluffs,  the 
cholera  had  broken  out,  and  the  demoralized 
men,  dropping  their  packs,  began  to  flee  in  a 
perfect  rout.  But  Dr.  Whitman,  who,  added 
to  his  great  strength,  had  skill  and  tact,  was 
equal  to  the  emergency.  Throwing  off  his 
coat,  he  sweated  the  patients  over  the  boiling 
camp  kettles,  administered  powerful  remedies, 
and  so  stayed  the  pestilence  and  restored  or- 
der. The  men  were  now  as  grateful  as  they 
had  been  before  cool  and  contemptuous;  and 
when  an  arrow's  head  had  been  extracted  from 
behind  the  festering  spine  of  a  comrade,  and 
his  life  saved,  their  admiration  knew  no 
bounds. 

Having  secured  the  Company's  pledge,  they 
pressed  on  by  boat  to  Liberty  Landing.  Here 
Spaulding  purchased  mules — wild,  he  found 
them — fifteen  or  twenty  horses,  as  many  cows, 
and  two  wagons,  not  forgetting  a  quart  of  seed 
wheat.  With  this  retinue  he  started  for 
Council  Bluffs,  while  Whitman  waited,  with 
the  women  and  the    goods,  for   the  Company's 


AN  EVENING  ^ITH  /IN  OLD  MISSION/IRY      121 

boat.  After  some  days  that  boat  passed, 
purposely,  leaving  them  behind.  Through 
this  act  of  bad  faith,  he  was  obliged  to 
send  forward  to  Spaulding  for  horses,  and  to 
overtake  him  as  he  could  by  land.  This  part 
of  the  trip  was  peculiarly  trying.  Spaulding 
especially,  who,  for  his  wife's  safe,  was  not 
yet  altogether  happy  in  going,  seemed  to  be 
the  sport  of  a  very  ill  fortune.  But  in  the 
review  even  he  could  see  a  comic  side  to  his 
mishaps.  A  mule  kicked  him.  He  was  terribly 
shaken  by  the  ague.  In  crossing  a  ferry,  an 
unruly  cow,  which  he  had  laid  hold  of,  jumped 
overboard,  taking  him  along  for  ballast.  A 
tornado  scattered  his  cattle,  swept  away  his 
tent,  tore  his  blankets  from  him  while  the 
ague  turn  was  on,  and  left  him  to  be  drenched 
by  the  rain,  with  the  usual  consequences  to 
one  who  takes  calomel  for  his  medicine. 

It  did  not  help  the  case  any  to  learn,  when 
they  were  within  twenty-five  miles  of  Council 
Bluffs,  that  the  Fur  Company's  convoy  had 
started,  and  were  already  five  and  a  half  days 
out  on  the  plains. 

" 'Twas  a  poor  chance,"  said  the  narrator, 
"for  us  greenhorns.  They  were  old  trappers 
with  fresh  horses,  while  our  teams  were  badly 
jaded.     And  I  said — I    was    terribly    sick,  you 


122  ESHCOL 

know — 'we  can't  overtake  them;  we  shall  have 
to  go  back.'  But  my  wife  constantly  affirmed, 
'I  have  started  for  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
I  expect  to  go  there!'" 

And  now  commenced  a  series  of  marked  in- 
terpositions. It  was  pure  faith  and  no  sight 
at  all  to  push  on  after  that  cavalcade.  The 
trappers  evidently  designed  to  keep  ahead, 
and  so  induce  the  missionaries  to  turn  back. 
But  to  secure  the  protection  of  the  convoy 
was  indispensable,  and  God  took  care  of  His 
own. 

"It  was  a  desperate  race,"  said  the  mission- 
ary, kindling  at  the  remembrance,  "but  we 
won  it.  They  had  to  halt  and  fill  up  ravines, 
and  make  roads,  preparing  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  you  see.  This  detained  them  four  days. 
Just  where  He  stopped  them  the  year  before 
with  the  cholera.  He  stayed  them  again;  not, 
as  at  the  Red  Sea,  by  taking  off  the  wheels, 
but  by  setting  the  axles  on  fire.  In  their  haste 
to  get  away  from  us  they  had  forgotten  to  take 
sufficient  wheel  grease.  To  burn  wood  for 
ashes,  going  ten  miles  out  of  their  way  to  find 
it,  and  to  kill  two  oxen  for  the  fat  necessary 
for  this  compound,  took  four  days  more.  And 
then,  at  Loup  Fork,  still  four  other  days  were 
lost  in  finding  the  ford  and  drying  their  goods, 


AN  EI^ENING  IVITH  AN  OLD  MISSIONARY      123 

wet  in  crossing.  Meanwhile  we  were  pressing 
on  behind,  and  the  Lord  helped  us.  The  day 
before  we  reached  Loup  Fork  we  rode  from 
daylight — it  was  late  in  May — till  two  o'clock 
at  night.  One  horse  broke  down,  and  was 
turned  loose,  and  my  wife  fainted  by  the  way. 
A  signal  gun  at  the  ford  brought  answer  from 
the  other  side,  and  we  camped.  The  convoy 
started  early  in  the  morning,  but  left  a  man 
to  show  us  across,  and  late  that  night  we  mis- 
sionaries filed  into  their  camp,  and  took  the 
place  reserved  for  us,  two  messes  west  of  the 
captain's  tent, — and  so  we  won  the  race  by  two 
lengths  !" 

Once  among  them  nothing  could  exceed  the 
kindness  of  the  men.  "The  choicest  buffalo 
morsels  were  always  kept  for  our  ladies.  But 
sick  or  well  we  had  to  go  on.  We  were  200 
souls  and  600  animals.  Everything  was  in  the 
strictest  military  order,  for  hostile  Indians  con- 
tinually hovered  on  our  flanks.  At  night  we 
camped  with  the  animals  solid  in  the  cen- 
ter. The  tents  and  wagons  were  disposed 
around  them ;  and  outside  of  all  sentinels 
marched  their  steady  round.  Each  day  two 
hunters  and  two  packers  went  out  for  buffalo. 
Each  night,  save  when  we  had  lost  the  way, 
they  overtook  us  at  the    appointed  camp  with 


124  ESHCOL 

four  mule-loads  of  meat.  This  was  our  only 
subsistence." 

"Did  they  never  fail  to  find  game?" 

"Yes,  once  or  twice,  and  then  we  had  to  go 
hungry." 

On  the  6th  of  June  we  were  at  Fort  Laramie. 
Wife  was  growing  weaker  and  weaker. 

"You  must  stay  here,"  said  the  captain; 
"Mrs.  Spualding  will    die  for  want   of  bread." 

"No,"  said  she,  "I  started  to  go  over  the 
mountains  in  the  name  of  my  Savior,  and  I 
must  go  on." 

INDEPENDENCE      DAY      AT   THE    "DIVIDE." 

July  Fourth  they  entered  the  South  Pass. 
Mrs.  Spaulding  fainted  that  morning,  and 
thought  she  was  about  to  die.  As  they  laid 
her  upon  the  ground,   she  said, 

"Don't  put  me  on  that  horse  again.  Leave 
me  and  save  yourselves.  Tell  mother  I  am 
glad  I  came. " 

But  the  caravan  stopped  on  the  "divide," 
and  sent  back  for  her,  and  she  was  borne  on. 
She  soon  revived,  and  three  hours  afterward 
they  saw  the  waters  trickling  toward  the  Paci- 
fic. And 'there, — it  was  Independence  Day, — 
six  years  before  Fremont,  following  in  the  foot- 
steps of  these  women,  gained  the  name  of  The 


AN  EVENING  IVITH  AN  OLD  MISSIONARY      125 

Path-Finder,  they,  alighting  from  their  horses 
and  kneeling  on  the  other  half  of  the  conti- 
nent, with  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  the 
American  flag  in  the  other,  took  possession  of 
it  as  the  home  of  American  mothers  and  of  the 
Church  of  Christ! 

Just  beyond  was  the  great  mountain  rendez- 
vous, the  end  of  the  convoy's  route,  a  kind  of 
neutral  ground,  where  multitudes  of  Indians 
were  gathered  for  trade.  There  were  rough 
mountaineers  there,  who  had  not  seen  a  white 
woman  since  they  had  left  the  homes  of  their 
childhood.  Some  of  them  came  to  meet  the 
missionaries,  and  wept  as  they  took  their 
wives  by  the  hand.  "From  that  day, "  said  one 
of  them,  "I  was  a  better  man."  But  best  of 
all,  here  met  them  a  greeting  party  of  the  Nez 
Perces.  "They  were  the  happiest  men  you 
ever  saw."  Their  women  took  possession  of 
Mrs.  S]  aulding,  and  the  gladness  they  showed, 
not  less  than  the  biscuit-root  and  the  trout 
with  which  they  fed  her,  revived  her  spirit. 
From  that  hour  she  began  to  mend  ;  and  from 
that  hour  her  future  and  theirs  were  one. 

Ten  days  of  rest  here,  and  the  journey  was 
resumed.  The  remainder  of  the  way,  if  shorter, 
was  no  less  perilous,  and  they  had  asked  in 
dismay,  What  shall  we  do  for  a  convoy?     But 


126  ESHCOL 

God  took  care  of  them.  He  sent  an  English 
trading  company  to  the  rendezvous  that  year, 
— an  unusual  thing, — and  with  them  they  com- 
pleted the  trip. 

It  was  the  29th  of  November  when  they 
reached  the  Columbia  river.  They  had  left 
civilization  the  21st  of  May, — a  long  journey, 
but  not  a  trip  of  two  summers  to  which  they 
had  made  up  their  minds. 

And  now  they  were  at  home  amid  a  nation 
that  had  no  homes;  they  had  found  a  resting 
place  among  restless  wanderers.  But  faith 
had  become  sight, — the  first  battle  had  been 
fought  and  won.  White  women  had  come  safe- 
ly over  the  mountains  ;  cattle  and  horses  had 
been  kept  secure  from  Indian  raiders,  a  wagon 
had  been  brought  through,  "the  first  wheel  that 
had  ever  pressed  the  sage:"  Whitman  had  de- 
monstrated to  himself  that  an  emigration  could 
cross  from  Missouri  to  Oregon  ;  and  when,  six 
years  afterward,  he  led  a  company  of  a  thousand 
along  the  same  track,  he  demonstrated  it  to  the 
world,  and  saved  Oregon,  and  with  it  Califor- 
nia, to  the  United  States. 

THE   TRUE    INDIAN   POLICY. 

The  old  missionary's  story  is  not  half  told, 
but  we  must  cut  it  short.     Whitman    took  the 


yiN  El^ENING  ^VITH  AN  OLD  MISSIONARY      137 

Cayuses  at  Waiilatpu  (Wyee  lat-poo),  near 
Walawala  ;  Spaulding  camped  120  miles  farther 
up  the  Snake  river,  among  the  Nez  Perces. 
He  found  a  people  without  a  hoe,  or  plow,  or 
hoof  of  cattle  ;  savages,  who  feasted  when  the 
hunt  was  good,  but  starved  through  the  long 
winters.  Eleven  years  afterward  they  were 
settled  in  homes;  their  crops  of  grain  had 
reached  from  20,000  to  30,000  bushels  a  year. 
The  cows  which  the  missionaries  brought  had 
multiplied,  for  the  Indians,  into  numerous 
herds;  gardens  and  orchards  were  planted; 
the  sheep,  which  the  English  residents  denied 
them  but  which  the  Sandwich  Islanders  gave, 
had  grown  to  flocks.  In  the  school  which  Mrs. 
Spaulding  taught,  carrying  a  young  child  in 
her  arms,  were  500  pupils.  A  church  of  a  hun- 
derd  members  had  been  gathered.  The  tongue 
of  the  people,  hitherto  without  a  character, 
had  been  reduced  to  writing  A  patriarchal 
government,  with  a  code  of  laws,  had  been 
established;  the  Sabbath  was  observed.  Upon 
the  first  printing-press  west  of  the  mount- 
ains, and  that  presented  to  the  mission  by  the 
native  church  at  Honolulu, — -the  type-setting, 
press-work  and  binding  done  by  the  mission- 
ary's own  hand, — were  printed  a  few  school 
books,  the  native  code  of  laws,  a  small  collec- 


128  ESHCOL 

tion  of  hymns,  and  the  Gospel  of  Matthew. 

And  then  came  that  tornado  of  rapine  and 
m  rder  at  Waiilatpu,  evoked,  there  is  abund- 
ant evidence  to  believe,  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 
Whitman,  with  fourteen  others,  was  massacred. 
The  killing  lasted  through  eight  days,  and,  in 
the  midst  of  it,  the  Catholic  priests  baptized 
Indian  children  whose  hands  were  stained 
with  the  victims'    blood. 

A  young  woman,  already  outraged  in  the 
presence  of  her  dying  brother,  who  had  gone 
to  the  Fathers'  house  for  safety,  was  thrust 
out  each  night  for  twenty  days  to  the  hated 
embrace  of  an  Indian  chief.  He  called  it  mak- 
ing her  his  wife,  but  she  plead  that  she  might 
be  killed.  Spaulding,  visiting  Whitman  at 
the  time,  fled  for  his  life  to  his  faithful  Nez 
Perces.  Six  days  he  was  without  food,  feeling 
his  way,  sore-footed,  by  night,  and  hiding  when 
the  dawn  appeared.  There  was  a  hasty  gath- 
ering of  the  household,  a  journey  of  200  miles 
to  the  settlements,  in  mid-winter,  and  the  mis- 
sion came  to  an  end.  Almost  blind  himself, 
and  broken  in  constitution,  he  watched,  for 
many  months,  by  the  bedside  of  his  wife,  dy- 
ing from  that  exposure, — watched  till  she 
passed  through  the  River  to  the  Celestial 
Mountains  and  the  beyond. 


j4N  evening  IVITH  AN  OLD  MISSIONARY      129 

Upon  the  records  of  Congress,  printed 
through  what  intrigue  and  connivance  let  him 
tell  who  can,  stands  a  paper  known  as  "Ex. 
Doc,  No.  38,  35th  Congress,  ist  Session."  It 
claims  to  be — it  is  a  statement  full  of  perjuries 
and  perversions — a  history  of  Protestantism  in 
Oregon,  by  the  Rev.  J.  R.  A.  Brouillet,  Vicar- 
General  of  Walawala. "  Farther  on  it  calls 
itself  an  "Account  of  the  murder  of  Dr  Whit- 
man, and  the  ungrateful  calumnies  of  H.  H. 
Spaulding,  Protestant  Missionary."  The  Nez 
Perces  mission  grounds,  abandoned,  so  say  the 
officials,  by  the  American  Board,  are  in  litiga- 
tion to-day  for  recovery.  And  the  Jesuits  are 
thrusting  themselves  upon  that  very  tribe  re- 
deemed from  heathenism  through  the  labors  of 
this  same  Protestant  missionary.  Who  shall 
now  say  we  have  a  State  without  a  church? 
O  ye  priests  and  politicians,  for  this  wrong, 
unparalleled  you  shall  yet  stand  condemned  at 
the  bar  of  an  outraged  public  sentiment,  and, 
after  that,  at  the  bar  of  God!  "How  long,  O 
Lord,  how  long!" 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  DAKOTAS. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Dakota  Mission 
was  held  at  Yankton  Agency,  commencing 
June  13.  We  esteem  it  a  rare  privilege  to 
have  been  present  on  that  occasion  and  to  have 
seen  with  our  own  eyes  the  marvelous  trans- 
formations wrought  by  the  gospel  among  this 
people.  Thirty-six  hours  by  rail  took  us  to 
Yankton,  the  border  town  of  civilization. 
Twelve  hours  more  in  stage  and  open  wagon 
along  the  north  bank  of  the  Missouri — the 
Big  Muddy,  as  the  Indians  rightly  call  it — 
carried  us  sixty  miles  into  the  edge  of  the  vast 
open  prairie,  and  into  the  heart  of  the  Yank- 
ton Reservation.  Here,  scattered  up  and  down 
the  river  bottom  for  thirty  miles,  live  the 
Yanktons,  one  of  the  Dakota  bands,  about 
2,000  in  number.  Thirty  miles  below,  on  the 
opposite  bank,  in  Nebraska,  are  the  Santees. 
Up  the  river  for  many  hundreds  of  miles  at 
different  points  other  Reservations  are  set  off, 
while  several  wilder  bands  still  hunt  the 
buffalo  on  the  wide  plains  that  stretch  west- 
130 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  DAKOTAS  131 

ward  to  the  Black  Hills.  The  Sissetons,  an- 
other family  of  this  tribe,  are  located  near  Lake 
Traverse,  on  the  eastern  boundary  of  Dakota 
Territory.  This  is  the  field  of  the  Dakota  Mis- 
sion. Its  extremes  are  from  500  to  800  miles 
apart.  Forty  years  ago  the  Dakotas  numbered 
from  45,000  to  50,000.  Those  who  can  now  be 
reached  readily  by  our  missionaries  are  about 
25,000.  The  chief  bands  laid  hold  of  thus  far 
are  the  Sisseton,  the  Santee  and  the  Yankton. 
A  new  point  has  recently  been  taken  at  Fort 
Sully  among  the  Teetons. 

It  was  from  these  places,  l3'ing  apart  in 
their  extremes  at  least  500  miles,  that  more 
than  a  hundred  Indians  gathered  to  this  an- 
nual meeting.  On  Thursday  afternoon  the 
hospitable  doors  of  Rev.  J.  P.  Williamson's 
spacious  log  house  opened  just  in  time  to  give 
us  shelter  from  a  fierce  storm  of  wind  and 
rain.  The  next  morning  the  Santees,  fifty  of 
them,  from  the  Pilgrim  Church,  some  on  foot, 
some  on  ponyback,  and  a  few  in  wagons, 
straggled  in,  and  pitched  their  camp  in  Indian 
fashion,  on  the  open  space  near  the  mission 
house.  About  noon  the  Sissetons  appeared,  a 
dilapitated  crowd  of  more  than  forty,  weary 
and  footsore  with  their  300  miles  tramp 
through  ten    tedious    days.      Among    them  we 


132  ESHCOL 

saw  one  white  person,  a  woman,  with  her  two 
children,  the  youngest  an  infant,  not  a  captive, 
but  a  missionary's  wife,  traveling  thus  among 
a  people  whom  the  gospel  had  made  captives 
themselves,  chiefly  through  the  labors  of  an 
honored  father  and  a  mother  of  blessed  mem- 
ory. It  intimates  the  courage  and  endurance 
needed  for  such  a  trip  to  know  that  there  were 
almost  no  human  habitations  on  the  way,  and 
that  swollen  rivers  were  repeatedly  crossed  in 
the  wagon-box,  stripped  of  its  wheels  and 
made  sea-worthy  by  canvas  swathed  under- 
neath. 

An  hour  afterward,  from  200  miles  in  the 
opposite  dierction,  the  Fort  Sully  delegation 
appeared.  For  Father  Riggs,  and  the  younger 
son,  famous  as  a  hard  rider,  this  journey  was 
no  great  affair.  But  the  tenderly-reared  young 
wife — how  she  could  endure  the  five  days  of 
wagon  and  tent  life  is  among  the  mysteries. 

That  this  was  no  crowd  of  Indian  revelers 
(come  to  a  sun-dance,  as  it  might  have  been 
of  yore)  was  soon  manifest.  The  first  morning 
after  their  arrival  a  strange,  chanting  voice, 
like  that  of  a  herald,  mingled  with  our  day- 
break dreams.  Had  we  been  among  the  Mus- 
sulmans we  should  have  thought  it  the  muez- 
zin's cry.    Of  course,  all  was  Indian  to  us,  but 


A  VlSn  TO  THE  DAKOTAS  133 

we  learned  afterward  that  it  was  indeed  a  call 
to  prayer,  with  this  English  rendering: 

"Morning  is  coming!     Morning  is  coming! 

Wake  up!  wake  up!  Come  to  sing!  come  to  pray! 

In  a  few  minutes,  for  it  does  not  take  an 
Indian  long  to  dress,  the  low  cadence  of  many 
voices  joining  in  one  of  our  own  familiar  tunes 
rose  sweetly  on  the  air  telling  us  that  the  day 
of  their  glad  solemnities  had  begun.  This  was 
entirely  their  own  notion,  and  was  repeated 
each  of  the  four  days  we  were  together. 

On  this  same  morning  another  sharp  con- 
trast of  the  old  and  the  new  appeared.  By  in- 
vitation of  the  elder  Williamson,  we  took  a 
walk  among  the  teepees  of  the  natives  who 
live  on  the  ground.  Passing,  with  due  regard 
for  Dakota  etiquette,  those  which  contained 
onlj'  women,  we  came  to  one  which  we  might 
properly  enter.  The  inmates  were  evidently 
of  the  heathen  party.  A  man,  apparently  fifty, 
sat  upon  a  skin,  entirely  nude  save  the  inevit- 
able blanket,  which  he  occasionally  drew  up 
about  his  waist.  A  lad  of  sixteen,  in  the  same 
state,  lounged  in  an  obscure  corner.  The 
mother,  who,  we  learned,  occasionally  attended 
meeting,  wore  a  drabbled  dress,  doubtless  her 
only  garment.  Two  or  three  others  were  pres- 
ent in  different  stages  of  undress,  and  all,  lazy, 


134  ESHCOL 

stolid,  dirty.  As  we  looked  into  these  impas- 
sive faces  we  could  understand  the  saying  of 
one  of  the  missionaries,  that  when  you  first 
speak  to  an  audience  of  wild  Indians  you 
might  as  well  preach  to  the  back  of  their 
heads,  so  far  as  any  responsive  expression  is 
concerned.  And  yet,  now  and  then,  the  dull 
glow  of  a  latent  ferocity  would  light  up  the 
eye,  like  that  of  a  beast  of  prey  looking  for 
his  next  meal.  Alas!  for  the  noble  red  man! 
In  spite  of  what  the  poets  say,  we  found  him 
a  filthy,  stupid  savage.  All  this  we  have  time 
to  see  while  Mr.  Williamson  talks  to  them  in 
the  unknown  tongue.  But  now  the  little  church 
bell  calls  us  to  the  mission  chapel.  It  is  al- 
ready filled — the  men  on  one  side,  the  women 
on  the  other.  The  audience  numbers  perhaps 
two  hundred. 

All  classes  and  ages  are  there.  All  are  de- 
cently dressed.  Were  it  not  for  the  dark  faces 
you  would  not  distinguish  them  from  an  ordi- 
nary country  congregation.  The  hymn  has  al- 
ready been  given  out,  and  each,  with  book  in 
hand,  has  found  the  place.  The  melodeon  sets 
the  tune,  and  then,  standing,  they  sing.  It  is 
no  weak-lunged  performance  we  can  assure 
you.  Not  altogether  harmonious,  perhaps,  but 
vastly    sweeter    than  a    war-whoop,  we    fancy; 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  DAKOTAS  135 

certainly  hearty,  sincere,  and,  we  have  no 
doubt,  an  acceptable  offering  of  praise.  A  low- 
voiced  prayer,  by  a  native  pastor,  uttered  with 
reverent  unction,  follows.  Another  singing 
and  then  the  sermon.  One  of  the  Renvilles  is 
the  preacher.  We  do  not  know  what  it  is  all 
about.  But  the  ready  utterance,  the  mellifluent 
flow  of  words,  the  unaffected  earnestness  of  the 
speaker,  and  the  fixed  attention  of  the  audi- 
ence, mark  it  as  altogether  a  success.  While 
he  speaks  to  the  people,  we  study  their  faces. 
They  are  certainly  a  great  improvement  upon 
those  we  saw  in  the  teepee.  But  not  one  nor 
two  generations  of  Christian  life  will  work  off 
the  stupid,  inexpressive  look  that  ages  of 
heathenism  have  graven  into  them.  There  is 
a  steady  gain,  however.  Just  as  in  a  dissolv- 
ing view  there  comes  slowly  out  on  the  canvas 
glimpses  of  a  fair  landscape,  mingling  strangely 
with  the  dim  outlines  of  the  disappearing  old 
ruin,  so  there  is  struggling  through  these  stony 
faces  an  expression  of  the  new  creation  with- 
in, the  converted  soul  striving  to  light  up  and 
inform  the  hard  features  and  displace  the  ruin 
of  the  old  savage  life.  But  the  poor  women! 
Their  case  is  even  worse.  They  start  from  a 
lower  plane.  Some  of  these  are  young,  some 
are  mothers  with  their    infants,  many   are  well 


136  ESHCOL 

treated  wives,  not  a  few  take  part  with  pro- 
priety in  the  women's  meetings,  and  }.et  you 
look  in  vain  among  them  all  for  one  happy 
face.  They  wear  a  beaten  and  abused  look, 
as  if  blows  and  cruelty  had  been  their  daily 
lot,  as  if  they  lived,  even,  only  by  sufferance. 
This  is  the  settled  look  of  their  faces  when  in 
repose.  But  speak  to  them  ;  let  the  missionary 
tell  them  you  are  their  friend;  and  their  eyes 
light  up  with  a  gentle  gladness,  showing  that  a 
true  womanly  soul  only  slumbers  in  them. 
This  came  out  beautifully  at  a  later  point  in 
the  meeting.  A  motion  was  about  to  be  put, 
when  some  one  insisted  that  on  that  question, 
the  women  should  express  their  minds.  This 
was  cordially  assented  to,  and  they  were  re- 
quested to  stand  with  the  men  in  a  rising  vote. 
The  girls,  of  course,  giggled,  but  the  women 
modestly  rose  in  their  places,  and  it  was  worth 
a  trip  all  the  way  from  Chicago  to  see  the 
look  of  innocent  pride  into  which  their  sad 
faces  were  for  once  surprised. 

But  sermon  is  done.  There  is  another  loud- 
voiced  hymn,  and  then  the  meeting  of  days  is 
declared  duly  opened.  It  is  to  be  a  compos- 
ite, a  session  of  Presbytery,  for  they  happen  to 
have  taken  that  form,  and  a  Conference  of 
churches.     A  leading  candidate  for   moderator 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  DAKOTAS  137 

is  Ehnamani,  a  Santee  pastor.  How  far  the 
fact  that  he  is  a  great  hunter  and  a  famous 
paddleman,  affects  the  vote,  we  cannot  say. 
This  may  have  had  more  weight:  his  father 
was  a  great  conjuror  and  war  prophet.  Before 
he  died  he  said  to  his  son: 

"The  white  man  is  coming  into  the  country, 
and  your  children  may  learn  to  read.  But 
promise  me  that  you  will  never  leave  the  re- 
ligion of  your  ancestors." 

He  promised.  And  he  says  now  that  had  the 
Minnesota  outbreak  not  come,  in  which  his 
gods  were  worsted  by  the  white  man's  God,  he 
would  have  kept  true  to  his  pledge.  As  it  is, 
he  now  preaches  the  faith  which  once  he  de- 
stroyed, and  they  make  him  moderator. 

We  will  not  follow  the  meeting  through  the 
days.  There  are  resolutions,  and  motions  to 
amend,  and  all  that,  just  like  white  folks,  and 
plenty  of  speech-making.  Now  a  telling  hit 
sends  a  ripple  of  laughter  through  the  room; 
and  now  the  moistened  eyes  and  trembling 
lip  tell  that  some  deep  vein  of  feeling  has  been 
touched.  Grave  questions  are  under  discus- 
sion: Pastoral  support,  opening  out  into  gen- 
eral benevolence  Pastoral  Visitation,  its  neces- 
sity, methods,  difficulties,  and  also  as  a  work 
pertaining  to  elders,  deacons,  and  to  the  whole 


138  ESHCOL 

membership;    Primary  Education — Shall  it  be 
in  the  vernacular  or  in  English?    a  most  spir- 
ited debate  resulting  in  this:   "Resolved,  That 
so  long  as  the    children    speak    the    Dakota  at 
home,  education   should  be  begun   in    the    Da- 
kota." Then  the  lape   Oaye,  the   Word   Carrier, 
for  they  have   their    newspaper,  and    it  has  its 
financial  troubles,  comes  up.      All    rally    to  its 
support.     But    the    hundred-dollar    deficit  for 
last  year,  that,  we    suspect    comes  out    of  the 
missionaries'  meagre  salary.     All  along  certain 
more  strictly  ecclesiastical  matters  are  mingled 
in.     James    Red  Wing    is  brought  forward    to 
be  approbated    as  a    preacher    at    Fort    Sully. 
An  application  is  considered  for  forming  a  new 
church  on  the  Sisseton  Reserve.      The    church 
at  White  Banks    asks    aid  for  a    church  build- 
ing, and  a  Yankton  elder  is    examined  and  re- 
ceived as  a  candidate  for    the    ministry.      The 
Indians,  in  large  numbers,  share    freely    in  all 
these   deliberations.      Everything    is    decorous 
and  dignified,  sometimes  evidently  interesting, 
we  the  while  burning  to    know    what    they  are 
saying,    and    getting    the    general     drift    only 
through  a  friendly  whisper  in  the    ear.      While 
they  are  discussing  we  will  make  a  few  notes. 
About  one-third    of    these    before  us    were  im- 
prisoned for  the    massacre  of    1862,  although, 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  DAKOTAS  139 

probably,  none  of  them  took  active  part  in 
it.  The  larger  portion  of  them  were  made  free 
men  of  the  Lord  in  that  great  prison  revival 
at  Mankato,  as  a  result  of  which  200  joined  the 
church  in  one  day.  They  were  also  of  that 
number  who,  when  being  transferred  by 
steamer  to  Davenport,  "passed  St.  Paul  in 
chains,  indeed,  but  singing  the  fifty-first 
Psalm,  to  the  tune  of  the  Old  Hundred." 
Seven  of  these  men  are  regularly  ordained  min- 
isters, pastors  of  as  many  churches;  two  others 
are  licentiate  preachers.  Quite  a  number  are 
teachers,  deacons,  elders,  or  delegates  of  the 
nine  churcnes  belonging  to  the  mission,  and 
they  report  a  goodly  fellowship  of  775  Dakota 
members,  79  of  whom  have  come  into  the  fold 
since  the  last  meeting. 

Two  or  three  of  these  men  are  of  some  his- 
toric note.  John  B.  Renville,  who  sits  at  the 
scribe's  desk,  was  the  main  one  in  inaugurating 
the  counter  revolution  in  the  hostilities  of 
1862.  Yonder  is  Peter  Big  Fire,  who,  by  his 
address,  turned  the  war  party  from  the  trail  of 
the  fleeing  missionaries.  And  there  is  Grey 
Cloud,  for  five  years  in  the  United  States  army 
a  sergeant  of  scouts;  and  Chaskaden,  the  Elder 
Brewster  of  the  prison  church;  and  Lewis 
Mazawakinganna,  formerly  chaplain  among  the 


140  ESHCOL 

fort  scouts,  now  pastor  of  Mayasan  Church, 
and  Hokshidanminiamani,  once  a  conjurer, 
now,  no  longer  raising  spirits  in  the  teepee, 
but  humbly  seeking  to  be  taught  of  the  Divine 
Spirit, — and  all  these — ah,  our  eyes  fill  with 
tears,  as  we  think  that  but  for  the  blessed  gos- 
pel they  would    still  be    worshipers    of  devils. 

There  was  to  have  been  a  sun-dance  by  the 
heathen  party,  a  few  miles  away,  during  this 
gathering,  got  up,  we  suppose,  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  world's  people  start  a  dancing 
school  when  a  protracted  meeting  begins.  It 
did  not  come  on  account  of  the  rain.  But  if 
it  had,  one  might  have  seen  repeated  there, 
perhaps,  what  took  place  a  year  ago — a  man, 
pinching  up  the  flesh  and  clipping  it  out  with 
his  knife,  every  four  inches  on  each  side  from 
the  ankle  bone  to  the  arm  pit,  and  dying  in 
ten  days  from  loss  of  blood;  scores  of  others, 
as  an  act  of  worship,  looking  with  open  eye 
for  many  minutes  into  the  blazing  sun,  some 
swinging  on  hooks,  others — but  enough!  O 
my  soul,  come  not  thou  into  the  secret  of  their 
abominations!  And  such  were  some  of  these, 
but  they  are  washed,  but  they  are  sanctified, 
but  they  are  justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God. 

The  meeting  is  adjourned  and    the    brethren 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  DAKOTAS  141 

are  coming  forward  to  greet  us.  We  never 
grasped  hands  with  a  heartier  good  will.  But 
somehow  our  sense  of  humor  will  not  be  alto- 
gether quiet  as,  one  after  another,  we  are  in- 
troduced to  Elder  Big  Fire,  Rev.  Mr.  All-good, 
Deacon  Boy-that-walks-on-the-water,  Pastor 
Little-Iron-Thunder,  Elder  Grey-Cloud,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Stone-that-paints-itself-red.  But 
they  are  grand  men,  and  their  names  are  quite 
as  euphonious  as  some  English  ones  we  could 
pick  out. 

While  supper  is  preparing,  we  will  look  a 
moment  at  a  phase  of  tent-life.  A  sudden 
gust  of  wind  has  blown  over  two  of  the  large 
teepees.  And  now  they  are  to  be  set  up  again. 
One  is  occupied  by  the  men,  the  other  by  the 
women.  Cinder  the  old  regime  the  women  do 
all  this  kind  of  work.  But  now  the  men  are 
willing  to  try  their  hand  at  it,  at  least  upon 
their  own  tent.  It  is  new  work,  however,  and 
while  they  are  making  futile  attempts  at  tying 
together  the  ends  of  the  first  three  poles,  the 
mothers  and  wives  have  theirs  already  up  and 
nearly  covered.  At  length  a  broad-chested  wo- 
man steps  over  among  them,  strips  off  their 
ill-tied  strings,  repacks  the  ends  of  the  poles, 
and  with  two  or  three  turns  binds  them  fast, 
and  all  with  a  kind  of  nervous  contempt  as  if 


142  ESHCOL 

she  were  saying — she  probably  is:  "O  you  stu- 
pid fellows!"  The  after  work  does  not  seem 
to  be  much  more  successful  and  they  stand 
around  in  a  helpless  sort  of  way  while  the 
young  women  are  evidently  bantering  them 
with  good-natured  jests,  much  as  a  bevy  of 
white  girls  would  do  in  seeing  a  man  vainl)' 
trying  to  stitch  on  a  missing  button,  each  new 
bungling  mistake  drawing  the  fire  of  the  fair 
enemy  in  a  fresh  explosion  of  laughter.  How 
the  thing  comes  out  we  do  not  stay  to  see,  but 
we  suspect  that  the  practiced  hands  of  the 
good  women  finally  come  to  the  rescue. 

Sunday  is  the  chief  day  of  interest,  and  yet 
there  is  less  to  report  about  that.  In  the  morn- 
ing at  nine  o'clock.  Rev.  A.  L.  Riggs  con- 
ducts a  model  Bible  class,  with  remarks  on 
the  art  of  questioning.  At  the  usual  hour  of 
service  the  church  is  crowded,  and  Rev.  Sol- 
omon Tunkansaiciye  preaches,  we  doubt  not, 
a  most  excellent  sermon.  Immediately  follow- 
ing is  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  with 
the  fathers  of  the  mission.  Revs.  Dr.  Riggs 
and  Williamson  officiating,  a  tender  and  sol- 
emn scene,  impressive  even  to  us  who  under- 
stand no  single  word  of  the  service,  for  grave 
Indian  deacons  reverently  pass  the  elements; 
and  many  receive  them  which  but  for  a  knowl- 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  DAKOT/iS  143 

edge  of  this   dear   sacrifice    might    have    reck 
oned  it  their  chief  glory  that  their  hands  were 
stained  with  human  blood. 

Just  as  we  close,  in  strange  contrast  with 
the  spirit  of  the  hour,  two  young  Indian  braves 
go  by  the  windows.  They  are  trickedout  with 
all  manner  of  savage  frippery.  Ribbons  stream 
in  the  wind,  strings  of  discordant  sleigh  bells 
grace  their  horses'  necks  and  herald  their  ap- 
proach. Each  carries  a  drawn  sword  which 
flashes  in  the  sunlight,  and  a  plentiful  use  of 
red  ocher  and  eagles'  feathers,  completes  the 
picture.  As  they  ride  by  on  their  scrawny 
little  ponies  the  effect  is  indescribably  absurd. 
But  they  think  it  very  fine,  and  like  their 
cousins,  the  white  fops,  have  simply  come  to 
show  themselves. 

In  the  afternoon,  is  an  English  service,  and 
then  one  wholly  conducted  by  the  natives  them- 
selves. No  evening  meetings  are  held,  as 
these  people  that  rise  with  the  birds  are  not 
far  behind  them  in  going  to  their  rest.  On 
Monday  the  business  is  finished,  and  the  fare- 
wells are  said.  And  on  Tuesday  morning  the 
various  delegations  start  for  their  distant 
homes. 

We  have  no  space  to  speak  of  the  meeting 
of  the   mission    proper.     It    was  held    at  Mr. 


144  ESHCOL 

Williamson's  house  during  the  evenings. 
Nearly  all  its  members  were  present — a  de- 
lightful re-union  it  was  to  them  and  us — and 
many  questions  of  serious  interest  were  amply 
discussed.  We  dare  not  trust  our  pen  to  write 
about  these  noble  men  and  women  as  we  would. 
The  results  of  their  labors  abundantly  testify 
for  them,  and  their  record  is  on  high.  May 
they  receive  an  hundred  fold  for  their  work  of 
faith,  and  labor  of  love,  and  patience  of  hope 
in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


THE  GENESIS    OF  A  WINDMILL. 

There  was  a  somewhat  desperate  state  of 
affairs  in  the  humble  missionary  home  of  the 
Wheelers  at  Odanah  in  the  early  spring  of 
1866.  The  Indians  had  gone  to  the  sugar 
bush.  There  was  no  help  to  be  had  on  any 
hand.  Four  of  the  eight  children  were  down 
with  the  measles.  The  father,  worn  with 
overwork,  and  already  enfeebled  by  the  disease 
that  finally  ended  his  life,  had  fallen  from  a 
ladder  and  broken  his  left  wrist.  That  morn- 
ing the  eldest  son,  Leonard,  dismissed  with  a 
benediction,  and  not  without  tears,  had  started 
in  the  deep  snow,  with  a  team,  for  St.  Paul, 
two  hundred  miles  away.  The  post  doctor  had 
scarcely  left  the  house,  where  he  had  spent 
hours  in  setting  the  fractured  wrist,  when  the 
son  was  brought  back,  suffering  great  agony 
from  a  broken  leg,  caused  by  a  falling  tree. 
What  the  mother  thought  and  felt  and  did  in 
this  testing  time  is  not  recorded.  But  doubt- 
less the  faith  and  courage  which  still  gives  her 
strength  to  recount  the  scene  and  enjoy  the 
145 


146  ESHCOL 

memories  of  her    missionary   life,    begun  more 
than  fifty  years  ago,  did  not  fail  her  then. 

The  next  day,  when  the  father  had  recovered 
from  the  dead  faint  of  the  bone-setting,  the 
unconqnered  will  asserted  itself,  and  he  said : 
"JVow's  7ny  titne  for  the  windmill/"  This  was 
the  revival  of  an  idea,  born  out  of  the  exigen- 
cies of  missionary  service,  but  which  had  slept 
for  more  than  twenty  years.  The  doctor  hu- 
mored the  fancy,  as  he  thought  it  to  be,  saying 
to  the  mother  that  it  would  come  to  nothing, 
but  it  would  occupy  his  mind  and  perhaps  save 
a  precious  life.  A  board  was  laid  across  the 
arms  of  the  chair  in  front  of  him,  and  with  the 
left  wrist  in  a  sling — he  always  counted  it  a 
special  mercy  that  it  was  that  one  that  was 
broken — he  drafted  for  the  first  time  the  plan 
of  a  now  famous  windmill. 

But  who  are  these  people,  and  for  what  pur- 
pose have  they  come  into  the  wilds  of  this 
Lake  Superior  region? 

In  the  spring  of  1841,  a  young  man,  born  in 
the  same  year  as  was  the  American  Board, 
1810,  a  graduate  of  Middlebury  and  of  An- 
dover,  and  furnished  with  the  further  outfit  of 
a  medical  course  at  Pittsfield,  takes  to  wife 
an  Ipswich  student  from  her  home  in  Lowell, 
Mass.,  and  sets  out  on  his  bridal  trip  for  Che- 


THE  GENESIS  OF  A  WINDMILL  147 

quamegon  Bay,  far  toward  the  west  end  of 
Lake  Superior.  He  is  commissioned  by  the 
Board  to  follow  the  Indians,  retreating  before 
the  wave  of  white  settlements,  and  scattering 
through  all  the  Upper  Lake  region  from  the 
post  of  Mackinac.  He  is  to  join  Rev.  Sher- 
man Hall,  who  twelve  years  before  has  estab- 
lished a  mission  at  La  Pointe,  on  the  Madeline, 
one  of  the  Apostles'  Islands,  opposite  and  about 
three  miles  away  from  the  present    Bayfield. 

To  some  of  Mrs.  Wheeler's  friends  it  seemed 
a  foolish  and  fanatical  thing  for  her  to  go  out 
thus  into  the  wilderness.  "There  is  romance," 
they  said,  "in  sailing  away  to  Ceylon  or  Syria, 
but  to  go  to  the  dirty  savages  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior, bah!"  the  ready  answer  was  Father  Good- 
ell's  oft  quoted  saying,  "Satan's  kingdom  is  a 
dirty  kindgom  anywhere." 

The  route,  by  railroad,  stage  and  steamboat 
to  Mackinac  was  an  easy  trip.  But  from  that 
point  on  the  hardships  began.  Three  days  in 
a  sail-boat  took  them  to  the  "Soo. "  The 
waves  did  not  deal  kindly  with  the  young 
bride.  The  first  night's  camp  was  on  an  island 
of  roses,  but  fainting  with  fright  and  sea  sick- 
ness she  was  borne  to  the  shore  in  the  arms  of 
a  half-breed.  Sault  Ste.  Marie  was  then  only 
a  "carry,"  and  all    the    sailing    craft    of  Lake 


148  ESHCOL 

Superior  consisted  of  two  small  schooners. 
After  waiting  three  weeks  for  one  of  these,  The 
Algonquin,  the  missionaries  embarked,  having 
for  company  two  copper-hunters  and  a  trader 
with  the  inevitable  barrel  of  whiskey.  Nine 
days  brought  them  to  the  Apostles'  Islands. 

It  is  difficult  for  one  who  now  visits  Che- 
quamegon  Bay,  its  clear  waters  seamed  across 
with  all  manner  of  water  craft;  Ashland, 
Washburn  and  Bayfield  filling  its  air  with  the 
many-voiced  hum  of  their  marvelously-growing 
industries — it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  the  ut- 
ter remoteness  of  those  who  dwelt  there  in  the 
early  days — in  the  days  when  only  the  cry  of 
the  loon  and  the  lazy  plash  of  the  Indian's 
paddle  broke  the  stillness  of  its  peaceful 
shores.  From  the  frontier  settlements  of  Wis- 
consin to  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Frozen  Sea 
of  the  North  it  was  an  unbroken  wilderness. 
It  emphasizes  this  isolation  to  our  thought  to 
know  that  once  in  three  months  of  winter  was 
the  mail-time;  and  that  on  one  occasion  the 
curtain  shut  down  during  the  quadrennial  No- 
vember election,  and  lifted  again  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring  only  after  the  successful  candi- 
date had  taken  the  presidential  chair.  And  we 
may  well  believe  that  no  sight  was  ever  more 
welcome  to  wearily    watching  eyes    than    that 


THE  GENESIS  OF  A  IVINDMILL  149 

column  of  smoke,  rising  from  a  dim  hill  to 
the  far  south,  which  told  that  the  mail  carrier, 
coming  over  two  hundred  miles  on  snow- 
shoes,  was  making  there  his  last  campfire  be- 
fore reaching  them  with  news  from  the  outside 
world. 

Mr.  Wheeler  anticipated  by  thirty  years, 
the  now  accepted  idea  that,  to  do  successful 
work  among  the  Indians,  they  must  be  located 
and  be  given  farms  in  severalty.  The  land  on 
the  Pointe  was  a  stiff  clay,  but  twenty  miles 
on  shore,  a  few  miles  up  Bad  River,  was  a 
marvelously  rich  soil,  easily  worked.  To  this 
point  he  steadily  labored  to  move  the  Indians 
and  the  mission.  In  four  years  he  so  far  suc- 
ceeded that  he  gathered  here  a  church  of 
twenty  members,  mainly  of  those  who  had 
floated  from  the  Mackinac  church,  and  a  school 
of  seventy-five  scholars,  while  Mrs.  Wheeler, 
although  resisted  by  the  Catholic  Bishop, 
gathered  one  of  thirty  or  fort}'  girls.  The  slen- 
der educational  outfit  consisted  of  a  small 
spelling  book  and  the  gospel  of  Luke  in 
Chippewa,  a  language  which  Hall  had  begun  to 
reduce  to  writing  only  twelve  years  before. 
Here  the  Indians  were  taught  to  build  log 
houses  and  to  till  the  soil.  But  there  was  no 
"power"  to  pump  water  or  grind  the  corn  and 


ESHCOL 

wheat,  and  hence  the  conception   of  the  wind- 
mill. 

The  idea  of  it  first  came  to  him  in  the  third 
j'ear  of  his  work,  in  1844.  Following  the  In- 
dians in  and  out  among  the  islands  of  the  Bay 
with  his  pill  box  and  Testament,  he  had  abund- 
ant opportunity  to  study  how  the  wind,  strik- 
ing the  sails,  gave  motion  to  the  boat.  Why 
not  make  this  same  power  pump  his  water  and 
grind  his  corn?  With  a  jack-knife  and  a 
shingle  he  worked  out  his  idea  in  a  rough 
model,  with  which  the  government  carpenter 
was  much  pleased.  But  the  growing  mission- 
ary work  and  many  cares  of  the  agency  left  no 
time  to  carry  out  the  plan,  and  so  it  slept  for 
twenty  years.  These  were  years  of  exhausting 
toil  but  of  abounding  joy  in  the  work.  One 
winter,  sleeping  in  the  open  air,  with  the  ther- 
mometer at  25  degrees  below,  he  traveled  two 
hundred  miles  on  snowshoes  to  head  off  some 
rascality  of  the  "Indian  ring."  Later  he  went 
East  and  spent  three  weeks  at  Washington  in 
the  interests  of  his  beloved  people.  Six  weeks 
after  his  return,  exhausted  by  his  exposures, 
he  came  down  with  a  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs, 
but,  though  in  great  weakness  and  weariness, 
he  clave  to  his  work  six  j'ears  longer,  pour- 
ing out,  in  a  real  sense,  his  life  for  the  Indians. 


THE  GENESIS  OF  A  WltiDMlLL  151 

Once  there  came  to  him  and  his  family  a 
great  temptation.  The  devil  led  him  into  the 
wilderness  and  showed  him  all  the  kingdoms 
of  pine  and  copper  lands.  He  had  peculiar 
opportunities.  No  man  knew  as  he  did  where 
were  the  best  soil  and  the  richest  minerals. 

The  pagan  Indians  believed  the  gods  would 
be  angry  if  they  showed  the  whites  where  the 
copper  was.  But  this  man  was  their  friend, 
teacher,  physician.  The  gods  would  be  pleased 
if  they  showed  him.  They  often  brought  him 
specimens  of  richest  ore  and  offered  to  "lead 
him  to  the  spot  from  which  it  came.  Friends 
were  ready  to  furnish  money  and  entreated 
him  to  "enter"  lands  and  mines.  An  immense 
fortune  was  let  down  to  his  very  hand.  He 
only  had  to  will  to  take  it.  But  to  all  he  con- 
stantly said,  "I  did  not  come  here  for  this. 
Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan."  And  to  his 
wife  he  many  times  quoted  i  Tim.  iv.  15: 
"Meditate  upon  these  things.  Give  thyself 
wholly  to  them."  But  one  night  in  Adam's 
absence  the  tempter  appeared  to  his  Eve.  The 
teacher  and  the  physician  and  wife^  came  and 
stayed  till  11  o'clock;  urging  her  to  persuade 
her  husband  to  go  into  the  speculation.  "Here 
is  your  brood  of  eight  children  to  be  cared 
for  and  educated."      "Mr.  Wheeler's   health  is 


152  ESHCOL 

failing."  "You  have  done  your  share  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Indians."  For  the  moment  she 
was  shaken.  But  in  the  calm  hour  when  they 
had  gone,  she  opened  the  Word  and  her  eye 
fell  first  upon  Ps.  xxxvii.  3 :  "Trust  in  the 
Lord  and  do  good;  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the 
land,  and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed."  This  set- 
tled the  matter  at  once  and  forever. 

And  now  came  the  incidents  detailed  at  the 
opening  of  this  sketch.  Between  the  father  and 
the  son  there  were  a  sound  pair  of  feet  and  as 
sound  a  pair  of  hands.  Three  days  after  the 
double  accident  the  doctor,  drawing  them  on 
an  ox  sled,  landed  them  in  a  vacant  room  of 
the  schoolhouse.  In  two  weeks  thy  had  trans- 
formed the  drawing  into  a  small  wooden  wheel 
and  the  government  blacksmith,  much  inter- 
ested in  the  scheme,  volunteered  the  iron 
work. 

There  was  a  touch  of  gallantry  in  the  finish- 
ing of  the  job.  The  nuptials  of  the  Wheel 
and  the  Wind  must  be  celebrated  on  the  twen- 
ty-fifth anniversary  of  his  own  marriage.  And 
so  on  April  26,  1866,  in  the  afternoon,  the  un- 
tried machine  was  perched  on  the  top  of  a 
high  fence  with  a  crank  and  the  piston  of  a 
pump  attached,  and  after  supper,  the  admir- 
ing wife  and  children    standing    by,  the    cords 


THE  GENEIS  OF  A  IVINDMILL  153 

were  cut  and  the  wheel  leaped  merrily  into  the 
embraces  of  the  breeze.  But  the  course  of  this 
true  love  did  not  run  smoothly.  Three  days 
after  a  stiff  and  envious  northeast  wind  blew 
off  the  wheel,  and  in  the  tumble  it  was  hope- 
lessly broken  into  fragments.  But  out  of  this 
very  misfortune  grew  the  most  important  part 
of  the  invention.  That  the  wheel  should  be 
solid,  and  not  with  sail-vanes  or  moveable 
slats,  as  mills  before  had  been,  was  a  new 
step.  But  in  a  week  or  ten  days  from  this 
indomitable  will  and  inventive  brain  came  the 
idea,  most  valuable  of  all,  of  an  automatic, 
self-regulating  vane.  This  attachment  with 
almost  human  intelligence,  should  turn  the 
wheel,  now  face  on,  now  quartering,  and  now 
edge  to  the  wind,  according  to  its  velocity,  and 
so  without  interference  or  watchfulness  it  would 
itself  safely  keep  up  its  own  regular  motion, 
let  the  winds  blow  as  they  might.  In  two 
months  the  self-regulating  mill  was  up  and 
working  well. 

But  the  inventor-missionary  was  failing  fast. 
That  autumn,  surrendering  his  work,  he  moved 
with  his  family  to  Beloit,  Wis  It  was  not 
expected  he  would  survive  the  winter.  The 
early  spring  of  '67  found  him  too  weak  to  talk 
to  a  cousin,  a  wealthy    banker,  who  was  visit- 


154  ESHCOL 

ing  them.  But  Mrs.  Wheeler  told  him  of  the 
wind-mill.  In  reply  he  said:  "I  have  a  patent- 
lawyer  friend  in  Chicago.  Send  him  a  model 
and  he  can  tell;  I  will  bear  the  expense."  A 
room  of  the  Ridell  house  where  he  lived  was 
warmed  and  fitted  up  with  a  work  bench,  and 
the  invalid  missionary,  working  twenty  min- 
utes or  a  half  hour  at  a  time,  as  his  strength 
would  allow,  in  about  two  months  completed 
the  model  and  sent  it  to  Chicago.  It  was  de- 
cided that  a  new  principle  had  been  evolved 
and  a  patent  was  easily  secured.  There  was 
not  the  remotest  thought  of  this  in  the  begin- 
ning. The  sole  inspiring  object  was  to  get  a 
machine  that  would  grind  the  corn  and  water 
the  gardens  of  the  Indians,  and  so  help  to  lead 
them  into  settled  Christian  lives. 

In  the  summer  Mr.  Wheeler's  health  revived 
and,  with  it,  his  courage  to  build  a  full-sized 
mill.  But  where  could  the  money  be  found? 
Fifteen  years  before  a  friend  had  given  the 
children  $25  or  $30.  With  this,  under  the 
direction  of  the  thrifty  mother,  a  patch  of  land 
was  cleared  and  drained.  The  children  dug 
with  a  will,  the  Indians  helped  from  gratitude, 
and  the  mission  oxen,  under  the  severe  con- 
science of  the  father,  were  hired  for  pay.  The 
little  plantation  throve  wonderfully,  and  in  sev- 


THE  GENESIS  OF  A  IVINDMILL  155 

en  years,  as  many  hundreds  of  dollars  were 
laid  by,  for  some  future  time  of  need ;  $500  of 
this  afterward  went  into  the  education  of  the 
children.  The  remaining  $200  built  the  first 
merchantable  mill.  In  the  fall  Mr.  Wheeler 
took  it  to  the  State  Fair  at  Madison.  The 
Lord  graciously  gave  him  favor  among  busi- 
ness men.  There  were  two  or  three  rival  mills 
there.  But  he  sold  his  to  a  man  who  took  it 
to  Albany,  N.  Y.,  where  it  is  said  to  be  run- 
ning yet.  The  same  man  bought  the  right  of 
a  county  for  $150,  and  so  the  manufacturing 
began. 

It  will  be  news  to  most  of  those  who  enjoy 
the  advantages  of  this  invention  that  it  was 
born  out  of  the  stringent  needs  of  missionar}'^ 
service;  that  every  step  in  its  development  was 
taken  with  an  earnest  supplication  for  aid 
from  the  Higher  Wisdom,  and  that  no  mill, 
during  the  life  of  the  inventor,  went  out  with- 
out a  prayer  that  it  might  prove  to  be  an  hon- 
est and  serviceable  machine. 

The  missionary  idea  in  it  clung  to  his  mind 
to  the  last.  At  that  time  the  hearts  of  Chris- 
tians were  wrung  by  news  of  drought  and  con- 
sequent famine  in  India.  It  was  his  fond  hope 
that  one  day  these  mills  would  be  scattered 
all  over  that    land,    and,    bringing    up    water 


156  ESHCOL 

from  the  reservoirs  below,  should  henceforth 
save  the  miserable  Hindoos  from  those  har- 
rowing scenes. 

One  morning  he  came  down  much  impressed 
with  a  vivid  dream.  In  visions  of  the  night 
he  saw  one  of  his  mills  planted  near  Jacob's 
Well  in  Palestine.  And  as  the  cool  streams 
poured  themselves  forth,  he  cried  out,  as  did 
the  prophet  of  old:  "Ho!  everyone  that  thirst- 
eth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and  he  that  hath 
no  money,  come  buy  .  .  .  without  money  and 
without  price;"  the  old  Arab  Sheiks  standing 
by  the  while,  stroking  their  white  beards  and 
exclaiming,  "Allah  is  great!  Allah  is  great!" 

Who  shall  say  that  there  was  not  repeated 
in  a  humble  way,  to  his  spiritual  eyes,  so  soon 
to  open  into  the  clear  seeing  of  the  other 
world,  Ezekiel's  "Vision  of  the  Holy  Waters, " 
a  symbol  of  the  river  of  salvation  flowing  to 
all  lands  of  the  earth, 

"And  everything  shall  live  whither  the  river 
Cometh." 


TALAMAS-MIC-O. 

In  rummaging  through  a  dusty  pigeon-hole 
the  other  day,  I  came  upon  some  rough  notes 
which  must  have  been  penciled  at  least  twen- 
ty-five years  ago.  They  were  undoubtedly  taken 
down  from  the  lips  of  the  person  to  whom 
they  refer,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  narrative  is  not  altogether  reliable  as 
to  truth.  It  was  probably  the  intention  at  the 
time  that  these  notes  should  be  written  out  as 
the  somewhat  remarkable  experience  of  an  un- 
tutored wild  man  of  the  woods. 

When  the  interview  took  place,  or  how  it 
came  about,  has  utterly  vanished  from  my 
memory.  On  the  mental  mirror  there  is  a 
dim  reflection  of  the  shadow  of  a  middle-aged 
man,  clad  in  a  semi-clerical  dress,  but  with 
straight  black  hair,  high  cheek  bones  and  a 
bronze  complexion — the  features  of  an  abor- 
iginal Indian.  But  whether  this  is  more  im- 
agination than  memory  I  will  not  undertake 
to  say.  I  copy  the  notes  so  far  as  I  am  able 
to  decipher  them,  adding  only  such  words  as 
157 


158  ESHCOL 

are  necessary  to  complete    the    evident  sense. 

This  Indian  must  have  been  born  somewhere 
ii^the  "twenties,"  for  he  was  one  of  the  boy 
"braves"  who  was  wont  to  help  torture  and 
scalp  the  wounded  whites  who  fell  in  the  bat- 
tles of  the  Seminole  War  in  Florida.  His 
mother  was  a  sister  of  the  celebrated  chief, 
Osceola.  There  was  a  touch  of  nature  which 
makes  all  the  world  akin  in  the  name  she  gave 
her  son.  The  heart-throb  which  inspired  a 
high-souled  woman  to  indite  the  beautiful 
lines,  addressed  to  a  noble  boy,  "Philip,  my 
king,"  beat  also  in  the  bosom  of  this  squaw 
mother,  and  as  she  looked  upon  her  lusty 
brown  baby  she  called  him  Talartias-Mic-O, 
the  "King  of  the  Forest."  The  young  savage 
was  reared  among  the  wild  scenes  of  an  In- 
dian war,  and,  it  would  seem,  learned  its  bar- 
barous lessons  well. 

But  I  must  pause  here  a  moment  to  modify 
these  last  words. 

A  custom  of  his  people,  spoken  of  in  these 
notes,  seems  to  give  a  comment  on  Rom.  i. 
19,  "That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  man- 
ifest in  them;  for  God  hath  showed  it  unto 
them."  They  believe  in  the  Great  Spirit. 
Once  a  year  before  the  corn  and  vegetables  are 
ripe,  they    come    together    and    give     thanks. 


TALAMAS-MIC-O  159 

Then  they  kindle  a  new  fire  as  a  symbol  of 
their  purpose  to  begin  a  new  life.  Over  this  fire 
they  boil  certain  roots — there  are  five  or  six 
kinds — knowji  to  the  Indian  doctors  for  their 
qualities  as  a  powerful  emetic.  It  is  called  the 
"Black  Drink."  All  partake  of  it,  and  then 
they  start  out  afresh.^  Enemies  exchange  gar- 
ments and  are  reconciled  And  thus  in  thsir 
rude  way — is  there  not  in  it  some  divine  thought 
of  the  need  of  regeneration? — they  attempt  to 
"make  all  things  new." 

And  yet  they  remained  Indians  and  commit- 
ted great  atrocities.  But  if  there  were  inhuman 
deeds,  there  were  great  wrongs.  In  the  celes- 
tial balances  which  weigh  human  blamableness 
according  to  the  light  enjoyed,  it  may  well  be 
doubted  if  the  atrocity  of  the  Indian  is  reck- 
oned heavier  than  the  rapacity  and  oppression 
of  the  white  man.  The  old  story  of  shame  and 
dishonor  repeated  itself  here.  Unlike  the 
pliant  North  they  refused  to  deliver  up  fugi- 
tive slaves.  Osceola's  wife,  who  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  fugitive  slave  woman,  was  claimed  as 
a  slave  by  the  owner  of  her  mother,  and  as 
such  was  carried  off.  The  noble  chief  in  his 
anger,  uttering  hot  words  of  threatening — as 
what  man  would  not? — was  seized  by  United 
States  Agent  Gen.  Thompson    and  put  in  irons 


160  ESHCOL 

for  six  days.  Indignity  added  to  outrage 
stung  Osceola  to  madness.  For  weeks  and 
months  he  lay  in  wait,  and  at  last  killed 
Thompson  and  four  others  with  him,  and  so 
the  pitiable  war  began.  It  was  7,000  Seminoles 
scattered  through  the  everglades  of  Florida 
upon  the  one  side  and  the  whole  force  of  the 
United  States  Government  on  the  other.  The 
war  lasted  seven  years  and  cost  $10,000,000  and 
the  lives  of  nearly  1,500  soldiers.  Finally  the 
government  called  bloodhounds  to  its  aid,  and 
to  crown  the  infamy,  by  an  act  of  treachery 
under  a  flag  of  truce  captured  Osceola  and  im- 
prisoned him  in  Fort  Moultrie,  where  after  six 
years  he  died.  Other  causes  operated  to  bring 
on  the  war — the  lust  of  slaveholders  for  the 
Indian's  land,  and  the  greed  of  "Ring"  con- 
tractors for  army  spoils.  The  government 
plundered  the  Indians,  and  the  Ring  plund- 
ered the  government.  A  glimpse  of  this  ras- 
cality appear  in  these  notes,  where  although  the 
army  was  camped  in  a  forest  country  the  com- 
missary charged  $40  a  cord  for  wood!  Doubt- 
less the  watch  dogs  of  the  United  States 
treasury  innocently  looked  the  other  way 
when  these  robber  bills  were  paid.  It  was  a 
wretched  and  disgraceful  piece  of  business  from 
beginning  to  end. 


T/ILAM/iS-MIC-O  161 

But  to  return  to  the  boy  Talamas.  In  the 
fifth  year  of  the  war  Osceola  sent  out  all  who 
were  unable  to  escape  the  bloodhounds,  Tal- 
amas and  some  other  Indian  boys,  pursued  by 
the  ferocious  brutes,  crossed  a  ford  of  the 
Withlacorchee,  and,  climbing  into  a  tree  where 
the  white  moss  concealed  them,  were  unseen 
witnesses  of  the  bloody  battle  that  followed. 
About  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  hearing  the 
distant  bay  of  the  five  hundred  government 
bloodhounds,  Osceola  ordered  poison  roots  to 
be  bruised  and  cast  into  the  streams,  and  the 
boys  could  see  the  dogs,  hot  from  the  chase, 
drink  and  then  jump  up  and  die.  A  fierce 
battle  came  on  in  which  the  Indians  held  the 
ground,  and  at  the  close  the  boys  came  down 
and  assisted  in  the  barbarities    that    followed. 

Soon  after  this,  it  seems,  he  was  sent  out  of 
the  everglades  and  at  length  found  his  way  to 
the  then  Spanish  town,  St.  Augustine.  "One 
day  I  saw  a  man"  (here  I  copy  the  exact  words 
of  the  notes).  "They  were  knifing  some  beeves. 
He  was  sitting  on  a  stump  talking  to  something 
in  Spanish.  I  went  up  behind  him.  I  heard 
him  say,  'Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
save  sinners.'  It  struck  me.  I  asked  him  to 
say  to  me  that  again  about  Jesus  Christ.  He 
said  it  again. 


162  nSHCOL 

"  'What  is  that?     Who  is  Jesus?' 

"  'He  is  the  Son  of  God. 

'"Who  is  God?' 

"'He  is  your  Great  Spirit.' 

"'Who  are  sinners?' 

"'You  Seminoles,  fighting  the    government.' 

"I  was  greatly  distressed.  The  feelings  fol- 
owed  me  up — horrible  feelings.  He  told  me  I 
was  a  sinner,  and  then  I  felt  it.  It  grew 
worse  and  went  on  for  three  weeks.  It  looked 
to  me  as  if  I  was  the  greatest  sinner  that  ever 
ran  among  the  everglades.  Seemed  as  if  every 
thing  I  had  ever  done  came  up.  I  had  cut 
boys  with  knives.  I  used  to  cut  them  all  up. 
I  have  scars  all  over  my  hands  made  in  these 
fights.  I  pitched  a  boy  once  and  broke  his 
back.  He  always  had  a  hump  afterward.  I  had 
forgotten  these  things,  but  now  all  came  up, 
especially  at  night.  Nothing  could  please  me. 
I  thought  the  Great  Spirit  was  angry  with  me. 
Then  I  thought  that  he  sent  his  Son  to  save 
me,  and  that  was  what  broke  my  heart.  It 
was  a  great  distress.  I  wanted  to  get  rid  of 
these  feelings.  I  thought  I  would  get  up  a 
'stamp  dance' — thought  I  could  stamp  those 
feelings  away.  I  raised  a  whoop.  They  could 
hear  it  three  miles  away.  All  came,  women 
and-  all.      They  came  into  a   ring,  and  I  raised 


T/fLAMAS-MIC-O  163 


the  song.  I  was  a  great  hand  in  a  stamp  dance 
— was  the  leader  of  it.  I  stamped  with  all  my 
might.  But  I  only  siamped  it  in.  I  raised  a 
whoop  and  then  stopped,  and  I  went  out,  while 
the  others  kept  on. 

"Then  I  felt  worse  than  ever.  I  went  down 
into  some  bushes  close  by.  The  thought  came 
to  me.  Why  are  you  so  disturbed  about  Jesus, 
about  whom  you  know  nothing?  Take  a  knife 
and  cut  your  throat.  This  suited  me.  I  took 
up  with  it.  I  took  out  my  knife  and  opened 
the  biggest  blade.  I  don't  know  why  I  looked 
up.  But  there  I  saw  my  aunt  looking  right 
into  my  eyes.  Well,  says  I,  I  will  not  kill 
myself  here.  I  don't  want  her  hollering  and 
screaming  around.  Then  I  went  to  a  better 
place,  a  low  marsh  spot  where  there  were 
great  oaks — thought  I  would  go  behind  them 
and  kill  myself.  Just  then  the  thought  came 
powerfully.  Is  not  the  Great  Spirit  able  to 
take  away  the  bad  feelings?  He  is  able.  I 
will  ask  him.  I  did  ask  him  as  the  Indian 
doctors  ask  for  rain.  I  said,  'Great  Spirit,  pity 
me.  Take  away  the  bad  feelings.  Keep  me 
from  killing  myself.'  Just  as  soon  as  I  asked, 
it  was  all  gone!  Went  from  one  extreme  to 
the  other,  from  great  anguish  to  great  comfort. 
I  felt  that  the  Great  Spirit    had  answered  me. 


164  ESHCOL 

I  shut  my  knife.  I  went  to  the  Indians  and 
gave  a  whoop  and  hundreds  came.  I  gave  a 
history  of  it.  I  was  anxious  to  tell.  It  did  me 
good.  I  couldn't  keep  it  in.  I  asked  them 
what  it  meant.  They  could  not  tell.  They  were 
heathen.  Then  I  went  all  around  telling.  I 
felt  as  if  I  wanted  to  know  more.  I  told  it 
round  for  a  week.  At  last  Abraham,  an  old 
Negro,  came  and  said, 

"'A  white  man  is  hunting  for  you.' 

"  T  won't  go.  I  am  afraid.  I  have  seen 
white  men  shoot  down  Indians.' 

"But  I  had  confidence  in  Abraham. 

"'You  go  and  find  out  what  he  wants.'  Soon 
Abraham  came  with  the    white  man    and  said, 

"  'That  is  the  boy.' 

Then  the  white  man  came  and  took  my  hand 
and  said — Abraham  interpreting — "If  you  go 
with  me  I  will  put  you  to  school,  and  tell  you 
about  the  Book,  and  that  will  explain  it  all. 
You  may  learn  to  read  it.'  I  was  a  little 
afraid,  but  thought  I  would  go;  thought  I 
should  be  killed  in  war  and  this  couldn't  be 
worse.  He  took  me  in  a  boat  to  his  vessel  at 
Key  West.  He  was  Captain  Bemo  of  the 
Shenandoah,  carrying  provisions  for  the  army. 
We  went  to  New  Orleans  and  then  to  New 
York.      Captain  Bemo    was  a    good    Christian. 


TALAMAS-MIC-O  165 


We  could  not  understand  each  other.  I  began 
to  learn  English,  I  liked  him  and  he  liked 
me."  [Note.  I  suppose  he  must  have  taken 
this  Captain's  name,  as  afterward  he  was 
known  as  John  Douglas   Bemo.] 

The  remainder  of  the  notes  are  brief  and 
fragmentary.  With  his  friend,  Capt.  Bemo, 
he  joined  one  of  the  expeditions  in  search  of 
Sir  John  Franklin.  "We  found  a  ship,  an  Eng- 
lish vessel,  crowded  up  in  the  ice.  It  had  been 
there  thirteen  years.  The  sailors  cried  when 
they  saw  it.  We  climbed  in  and  found  the 
Captain  sitting  at  a  table  with  his  hat  and 
overcoat  on  and  a  pen  in  his  hand.  The  last 
words  he  had  written  were,  'My  wife  froze  last 
night.'  The  sailors  were  sitting  around  frozen. 
We  were  gone  four  years.  Then  we  returned 
to  New  York  and  to  Philadelphia.  I  went  to 
Rev.  Alston  Douglas  and  staid  in  his  family. 
He  was  a  Bethel  preacher.  A  Mr.  Elliot  gave 
me  lessons.  Then  I  went  to  Lafayette  Col- 
lege, Easton,  Pa.  I  was  here  with  Dr.  Jedkins 
three  or  four  years,  and  gained  a  good  English 
education." 

At  Princeton  he  took  a  theological  course 
studying  Greek  and  Hebrew.  The  latter  came 
perfectly  easy  to  him,  as  it  was  like  his  own 
mother  tongue,    and    this    led    him  to  believe 


166  ESHCOL 

that  his  people  were  the  remnants  of  the  lost 
Ten  Tribes.  In  Philadelphia  he  began  to 
tell  his  experience  to  the  sailors.  "They  had 
me  running  about  right  smart  till  I  found  it 
was  injuring  my  studies.  Then  I  stopped  and 
tended  to  my  books.  I  had  it  in  mind  all 
the  while  that  as  soon  as  I  could  read  in  that 
Book,  and  understand  it,  I  would  go  back  to 
my  people  and  tell  them  how  I  was  wrought 
upon.  I  found  out  that  the  Bible  explained 
all  I  had  felt."     • 

The  notes  here  come  to  a  somewhat  abrupt 
close,  only  intimating  that  he  went  to  the  In- 
dian Territory  to  which  the  remnant  of  his 
people  had  been  removed,  that  he  connected 
himself  with  the  Baptist  denomination  and  be- 
came a  useful  minister  in  the  tribe  to  which  he 
belonged.  He  had  probably  come  East  on  a 
visit,  when  I  seem  to  have  met  him,  and  it 
was  doubtless  then  that  I  took  from  his  lips 
the  notes  which  I  have  here  transcribed. 

If  I  am  not  mistaken  they  are  worth  the 
writing  out,  even  at  this  late  day,  as  an  illus- 
tration of  the  possible  growth  of  the  divine 
life  from  the  smallest  seed,  cast  into  the  un- 
likeliest  soil;  of  the  marvelous  change,  con- 
trary to  all  natural  expectation,  sometimes 
wrought  by  the  Holy    Spirit,  and    of  the    gra- 


TALAMAS-MIC-O  167 

cious  working  and  illuminating  power,  with 
almost  no  human  agency — reaching  farther 
than  we  may  have  thought — of  the  "True  Light 
which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world.'' 


TWO    CATASTROPHES. 

A  few  years  ago,  on  the  Muskingum,  a  coal 
mine  in  which  twenty  men  were  working, 
caved  in.  Sixteen  of  the  miners,  warned  by 
the  crumbling  of  the  shale,  escaped.  Upon 
the  remaining  four,  who  were  "drifting"  in  a 
distant  chamber,  the  mountain  closed  its  in- 
exorable jaws  and  shut  them  up,  living,  in  the 
rock-tomb  hewed  out  by  their  own  hands.  It 
is  impossible  to  describe  the  excitement  that 
ensued.  The  news  spread  like  fire  on  the 
prairie.  Telegraph  wires  in  all  directions  trem- 
bled each  hour  with  tidings  from  the  terrible 
scene.  The  hundreds  who  flocked,  the  first 
day,  to  the  ill-starred  mine,  soon  grew  to 
thousands,  and  boat  loads  of  provisions  floated 
down  the  river  to  feed  them.  The  imprisoned 
men  were  thought  to  be  still  uninjured.  Those 
acquainted  with  the  mine  believed  they  could 
be  reached  by  an  abandoned  shaft  now  filled 
with  debris — reached  possibly  before  they 
should  starve.  But  two  or  three  could  work  in 
the  narrow  pass  at  a  time,  and  this  only  at 
168 


TH^O  CATASTROPHES  109 

the  risk  of  their  own  lives.  But  there  was  no 
lack  of  willing  hands.  Slowly,  toilfuUy,  each 
man  concentrating  the  strength  of  a  day  into 
his  hour's  work,  they  delved  through  the  rocky 
cerements  of  that  living  sepulcher,  hoping  yet 
doubting  if  the  unfortunate  miners  were  still 
alive.  One  full  week  came  and  went.  Fri- 
day of  the  second  week  still  found  them  work- 
ing under  that  terrible  suspense.  But  at  last, 
far  in,  they  hear  the  faint,  muffled  shouting  of 
the  imprisoned  men.  Oh,  what  exciting  joy! 
They  are  still  alive!  They  may  yet  be  saved! 
Like  an  electric  flash  the  news  spreads  to  the 
crowds  without  and  the  air  is  rent  with  their 
wild  huzza. 

But  what  words  can  tell  the  feelings  of  the 
poor  men  themselves  during  these  two  weeks, 
walled  in  a  hundred  yards  from  the  light  of 
day!  Could  they  stand  before  us  how  intent 
would  be  every  ear  to  catch  the  recital  of  their 
story.  Into  what  a  breathless  stillness  would 
their  words  penetrate,  as  they  told  of  that  first 
stunning  crash;  of  the  wild  horror  that  shot 
through  their  souls  when  they  knew  that  the 
mountain  had  fallen  in  upon  them;  of  that 
frightful  insanity  of  two  of  the  number,  rav- 
ing of  light  and  bread;  of  that  groping  about 
the  narrow  passages  of  their  prison  in  the  hor- 


170  ESHCOL 

rible  darkness,  unable  to  see  each  other's  faces, 
fearing  every  moment  some  new  catastrophe, 
the  more  alarming  because  unseen;  of  that  te- 
dious wearing  out  of  the  slow  hours,  which 
dragged  heavily,  as  if  time's  chariot  wheels 
were  taken  off;  of  the  vain  effort  to  mark  the 
passage  of  the  days;  of  the  fitful  sleep  and 
dreams  of  home,  with  the  waking  each  time  to 
new  horrors;  — and  then, at  last,  of  the  joy  strug- 
gling out  of  their  despair,  when  the  dull  sound 
of  distant  digging  crept  into  their  ears,  and 
of  the  hope  that  almost  made  light  about 
them  when  voices  from  the  outer  world  spake 
words  to  them,  and  in  cheer  upon  cheer  pierced 
even  to  their  awful  solitude.  And  who  can 
tell  what  happiness  was  compressed  into  that 
hour,  when,  carried  fortn  by  strong,  tender 
arms,  their  eyes  bandaged,  lest  the  light  should 
strike  them  blind,  they  felt  once  more  the 
breath  of  heaven  upon  them.  We  do  not  won- 
der that  the  crowd,  suddenly  unbent  from  the 
tension  of  their  excitement,  well  nigh  went 
wild  in  the  delirium  of  their  joy;  that  many 
caught  their  neighbors  to  their  arms  and  danced 
like  maniacs,  and  that  some  lifted  up  their 
streaming  eyes  in  jubilant  thanksgiving  to 
God. 

It  was  most  honorable  to  our  humanity  that 


TiVO  C/IT/1STR0PHES  171 

the  peril  of  these  men  should  have  so  stirred 
the  heart  of  a  great  commonwealth.  But  what 
is  the  danger  of  a  mortal  life,  to  the  jeopardy 
of  an  immortal  soul?  If  a  thousand  hands 
gladly  wrought  to  save  four  men  from  Death, 
who  would  claim  them  again  in  a  few  years  at 
most,  what  shall  be  done  for  the  twice  four 
hundred  millions  of  our  race  in  peril  of  the 
second  Death?  It  is  a  sad  ruin  that  has  fallen 
upon  them.  Separated  from  God,  shut  away 
from  him  who  is  the  light  of  the  world,  they 
grope  about  in  vast  caverns  of  superstition 
and  idolatry.  They  are  spiritually  blind.  Mad- 
ness is  in  their  hearts  while  they  live.  There 
is  no  hope  in  their  death. 

It  does  not  diminish  the  exigency  of  the  case, 
it  only  adds  piteousness  to  it,  that  these  mil- 
lions have  no  clear  sense  of  need.  The  call  to 
us  is  all  the  more  urgent  that  the  gloom  in 
which  they  live  is  to  them  as  light;  that  they 
do  not  know  that  the  darkness  of  their  false 
religions  will  lead  ere  long  to  the  "outer  dark- 
ness. " 

When  our  starving  soldiers  were  let  out  from 
Southern  prisons,  it  is  said  that  some  of  them 
had  nearly  lost  the  sense  of  taste.  Famine 
had  made  them  almost  imbecile.  Only  the 
most  careful  nursing    could    bring    them  back 


172  ESHCOL 

to  the  conditions  of  a  healthful  life.  But  was 
there  not  in  this  mute  wretchedness  an  appeal 
mightier  than  even  the  most  piercing  cry  for 
food  could  make?  Was  it  not  a  depth  of  misery 
lower  than  any  pang  of  hunger  could  intimate? 
Suppose  a  delegation  of  high  officials  from 
China,  sent  by  the  Emperor  himself,  should 
appear  on  our  shores,  and  another  like  it  from 
Japan  should  join  them  on  the  way,  and  Rajahs 
from  Hindoostan,  and  dusky  chiefs  from  un- 
discovered tribes  in  Africa,  and  kings  from 
distant  islands  should  come,  all  joining  in  a 
piteous  cry  for  deliverance  from  the  dread 
catastrophe  of  sin,  how  would  all  Christendom 
be  moved  to  meet  them?  Great  would  be  the 
company  of  the  missionaries.  Fleets  of 
steamers  could  not  hold  the  multitudes  who 
would  press  forward  to  answer  the  call.  But 
is  the  ruin  less  appalling  because  no  plead- 
ing voices  come  across  the  seas?  Does  not  the 
blindness  of  mind,  the  spiritual  stupor  of  these 
millions  shut  up  in  the  terrible  prison-house  of 
false  religions  make  an  appeal  more  touching 
than  any  words  can  frame?  Oh  that  some  power 
would  anoint  the  eyes  of  God's  people  to  see 
the  dire  ruin  of  these  vast  multitudes  wandering 
in  the  gloomy  caverns  of  despair!  Oh  that  they 
might  catch    the    spirit    of    the   eager   and  ex- 


TIVO  C/ITASTROPHES  173 

pectant  angels  who  hover  above  these  sepul- 
chers  of  the  lost,  burning  to  make  the  heavens 
ring  with  hallelujahs  at  their  rescue! 


IS  IT  A  WASTE? 

The  mistaken  idea  that  it  is  a  bad  economy 
to  send  men  and  money  abroad  dies  hard. 
Many  still  say,  "The  church  can  do  more  with 
its  means  at  home."  But  is  there  any  less 
material  for  home  work  by  reason  of  that  which 
is  sent  abroad?  We  think  not.  Many  wise 
pastors  declare  that  the  foreign  draft  only 
opens  new  sources  of  supply  for  use  here. 

But,  suppose  it  were  a  waste,  we  appeal  to 
Christ  and  the  supper  at  Bethany.  The  Lord 
did  not  deny  that  the  three  hundred  pence 
worth  of  spikenard,  if  sold,  would  do  the  poor 
much  good.  But  for  all  that  he  spake  loving 
words  to  Mary,  and  rebuked  Judas  and  the 
rest.  And  why  should  we  have  indignation 
at  a  like  outpouring  for  Christ  now?  Does 
England  write  down  in  her  book  of  losses  the 
men  and  treasure  spent  in  the  search  for  Sir 
John  Franklin?  Does  science  need  to  demon- 
strate the  money  value  of  deep  sea  dredgings 
or  of  Arctic  Exploring  Expeditions?  And 
shall  the  church  have  none  who,  at  peril  and 
174 


IS  IT  A  WASTE}  175 


expense,  go  after  souls  lost  in  the  frozen  seas 
of  sin?  None  to  sound  the  depths  of.  human 
misery  in  foreign  parts?  Has  Christianity  no 
room  for  chivalry  and  heroism  for  Christ's 
sake?  Can  she  spare  from  her  records  the 
names  of  that  saintly  host  who  have  gone  up, 
some  in  chariots  of  fire,  from  missionary  soil? 

But  we  have  a  farther  answer. 

Who  shall  say  what  is  waste,  in  a  matter 
concerning  which  the  Lord  has  given  com- 
mand? Some  times  what  appears  to  us  profit- 
less, in  the  divine  economy  proves  a  royal  in- 
vestment. When  the  early  church  proposed 
missions  to  Saxony  and  the  British  Isles, 
doubtless  there  were  those  who  said  it  was 
wasteful  and  visionary.  Were  there  not  multi- 
tudes still  in  Italy  and  Greece  who  had  not 
received  Christ?  Why  leave  the  shores  of  the 
midland  sea,  the  seat  of  mighty  empires,  the 
center  of  the  world's  civilization,  for  distant 
islands  and  storm-swept  sea-coasts,  the  homes 
of  skin-clad  sea-rovers?  Why  send  men  of 
learning  and  culture  into  German  forests, 
made  horrid  by  the  shrieks  of  human  victims 
offered  in  sacrifice  to  sanguinary  gods?  Yet 
these  fierce  Pagans  were  our  ancestors.  Out 
of  them  have  come  England  and  America, 
with  more  evangelizing  power   than  in  all  the 


176  ESHCOL 

world  beside.  We  do  not  know  what  part  in 
the  grand  march  of  human  events  the  nations, 
now  obscure,  to  whom  we  send  missionaries, 
are  to  take.  That  third  of  the  race  shut  up  in 
China  are  not  always  to  be  walled  off  from  the 
rest  of  mankind  in  a  stolid  self-seclusion.  The 
two  hundred  millions  of  India,  where,  let  us 
never  forget,  science  and  the  arts  flourished 
when  we  were  savages — may  again  come  for- 
ward to  a  rank  with  the  leading  empires.  And 
Africa,  scattered,  and  peeled,  the  hunting 
ground  of  stronger  peoples,  lo,  these  many 
year  may  yet  retake  its  lost  place  among  the 
kingdoms.  It  is  enough,  then,  that  He  who 
knows  the  end  from  the  beginning  says:  "Go 
ye  into  all  the  world."  It  is  safe  to  obey,  and 
leave  the  matter  of  profit  or  loss  to  Him  who 
wastes  nothing. 

But  there  have  been 

PENTECOSTAL  GAINS. 

It  may  be  doubted  if  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity gives  account,  anywhere,  of  gains  more 
substantial  or  more  wonderful  than  those  con- 
nected with  modern  missions.  Our  triumphing 
Lord  has  often  revealed  his  power  among  them, 
doing  great  things  for  us  whereof  we  are  glad. 
We  have  talked  of  waste,  let  us  look  at  some 
of  the  returns  which  have  come  from  mission- 
ary labor. 


IS  IT  A  IVASTE>  177 

Dr.  Judson's  first  Karen  convert  became  a 
preacher.  Under  his  first  sermon  the  heathen 
Quala  saw  a  new  light,  and  cast  away  his  idols. 
He  began  to  preach,  and  in  less  than  three 
years  thirty  churches  grew  under  his  hand,  and 
more  than  two  thousand  converts  were  bap- 
tized. If  the  results  from  this  one  convert's 
labors  were  all,  did  Judson  pour  out  his  pre- 
cious life  at  the  Savior's  feet  in  vain? 

When  Tucker,  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  died,  after  a  mission  of  twenty  years 
among  the  Shanars,  baptizing  3,500  Christian 
converts,  seeing  them  destroy  with  their  own 
hands  fifty-four  temples,  and  build  sixty-four 
houses  of  Christian  worship,  did  anybody  write 
on  his  tombstone,   "A  Wasted  Life?" 

The  toilers  in  India  reckon  200,000  converts 
as  the  smallest  part  of  their  gains.  They  see 
the  whole  fabric  of  Hindooism  honeycombed 
with  Christian  ideas,  and  the  entire  forces  of 
Satan  folding  their  tents  in  preparation  to  re- 
tire from  the  field.  Surely  no  one  will  say 
that  here  are  labors  spend  in  vain. 

The  Baptist  Missionar}-,  Vinton,  spent  six 
years  among  the  Karens,  and  died.  Forty 
churches  planted;  a  native  ministry  of  a  hun- 
dred developed  and  8,000  or  g,ooo  heathens 
changed  to  Christian  worshipers,  was  the  rec- 
ord of  those  brief  years. 


178  ESHCOL 

That  little  leaven  cast  in  upon  the  island  of 
Madagascar — the  story  is  well  known — the  mis- 
sionaries banished;  the  little  flock  in  the  wil- 
derness persecuted  to  the  death  for  twenty- 
five  years  by  a  Pagan  queen;  hiding  in  caves, 
hunted  through  jungles;  burnt  at  the  stake, 
cast  from  precipices — and  yet  the  divine  fer- 
ment swelling  among  mountains,  spreading 
through  the  valleys,  till  a  new  queen  -arose 
and  came  under  its  power.  That  was  a  rare 
day  for  this  till  then  heathen  kingdom,  when 
200,000  of  its  subjects  poured  out  upon  the 
plain  to  witness  the  coronation  at  once  of  a 
queen  and  of  Christianity.  Ranavalona  having 
humbly  sought  baptism  at  the  hands  of  one  of 
the  native  pastors,  passed  through  the  vast 
crowd  with  her  retinue  to  a  platform  elevated 
in  the  midst.  Over  the  canopy  where  of  old 
on  such  days  were  wont  to  flaunt  the  scarlet 
banners  of  the  gods,  was  inscribed — was  it  not 
a  rainbow  on  the  retiring  darkness  of  Paganism? 
— the  song  of  the  jubilant  angels,  "Glory  to 
God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good- 
will to  men."  Upon  a  table  to  the  right  the 
royal  diadem  waited  for  the  queenly  head.  To 
the  left,  upon  another,  lay  the  open  Bible. 
And  in  the  inauguration  speech  were  these 
memorable  words — a  declaration  of    liberty  of 


IS  IT  A  WASTE}  179 

conscience  worthy  to  be  written  in  gold — "As 
for  the  praying,  it  is  not  forbidden;  it  is 
not  commanded,  for  God  made  us. "  It  was  but  a 
handtul  of  corn  which  was  sown  many  years 
before  by  the  missionaries,  but  the  fruit  of  it 
now  waved  like  Lebanon.      Was  that  a  waste? 

What  a  costly  outpouring  was  there  when  a 
few  English  Wesleyans  faced  200,000  Feejee 
cannibals,  and  suffered  the  ship  that  brought 
them  to  sail  from  sight  and  leave  them  behind. 
The  world  looked  on  and  scoffed.  But  when, 
thirty  years  afterward,  half  the  people — a  100,- 
000 — had  the  Bible  in  their  own  language; 
when  663  Feejean  preachers,  that  afore  time 
were  savages,  spoke  the  word  to  go,ooo  Chris- 
tian worshipers,  and  22,000  converted  ones  sat 
down  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  there  was  no 
Judas  found  to  call  it  waste. 

Coan  and  Lyman,  in  five  years,  winning 
from  Satan  to  Christ  7.557  souls,  numbering 
in  all  12,000  as  their  spiritual  children,  will 
they  go  up  from  their  parish  at  Hilo  to  find 
written  against  their  life  work  in  God's  book, 
"To  what  purpose  was  this  waste?"  Or  the 
others  of  that  goodly  fellowship,  when,  in  the 
kingdom  of  light,  a  glorified  company  of  60,- 
000  redeemed  islanders  shall  rise  up  to  call 
them  blessed,  will  it  be  said  that  their  lives 
were  wasted? 


180  ESHCOL 

And  when  from  thousands  of  churches  scat- 
tered through  heathendom,  nearly  a  million  of 
converted  ones,  now  living,  shall  join  the 
vastly  greater  throng  who  have  gone  before, — 
each  soul  in  God's  balance  to  be  weighed 
against  a  world,  — will  any  be  found  to  say 
that  the  treasure  spent  in  this  grand  harvest, 
and  the  lives  worn  out,  were  ill-spent  or 
thrown  away? 


THE    END. 


a  selection  from 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company's 
catalogue. 


PopfllarlssionaryBiograpWes 

12nio,  160  pages.     Fully  illustrated.    Cloth  extra,  75  cents  each. 


From  TAe  Missionary 
Herald. 

*'  We  commended  this  ser- 
ies in  our  last  issue,  and  a 
further  examination  leads  us 
to  renew  our  commendation, 
and  to  urge  the  placing  of 
this  series  of  missionary 
boolcs  in  all  our  Sabbath- 
school  libraries. 

These  books  are  handsome^ 
ly  printed  and  bound  and  are 
beautifully  illustrated,  and  we 
are  confident  that  they  will 
prove  attractive  to  all  young 
people," 


"  These  are  not  pans  of  milk,  but  little  pitchers  of  cream,  compact  and 
condensed  from  bulkier  volumes." — Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson. 

SAMUEL  CROWTUER,  the  Slave  Boy  who  became 
Sishop  of  the  Niger,  By  Jesse  Page,  author  of  "  Bishop 
Patteson." 

THOMAS  J".  COMBER,  Missionary  Pioneer  to  the 
Congo.  By  Rev.  J.  B.  Myers,  Association  Secretary  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Society. 

BISHOP  PATTESON,  the  Martyr  of  Melanesia.  By 
Jesse  Page. 

GRIFFITH  JOHN,  Founder  of  the  Hankow  Mission, 
Central  China.  By  Wm.  Kobson,  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society. 

ROBERT  MORRISON,  the  Pioneer  of  Chinese  Mis- 
sions. By  Wm.  J.  Townsend,  Sec.  Methodist  New  Connexion 
Missionary  Society. 

JtOBERT MOFFAT,  the  Missionary  Hero  ofKuruman, 
By  David  J.  Deane,  author  of  "  Martin  Luther,  the  Reformer,"  etc. 

WILII AM  CAREY,  the  Shoemaker  who  became  a  Mis- 
sionary. By.  Rev.  J.  B.  Myers,  Association  Secretary  Baptist 
Missionary  Society. 

fifAMES  CHALMERS,  Missionary  and  Explorer  of 
liarotonga  and  Neiv  Guinea.  By  Wm.  Robson,  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society. 

MISSIONARY  LADIES  IN  FOREIGN  LANDS.  By 
Mrs.  E.  R,  Pitman,  author  of  "  Heroines  of  the  Missionary  Fields,  ' 
etc. 

JAMES  CALVERT;  or.  From  Dark  to  Dawn  in  Fiji. 

JOHN  WILLIAMS,  the  Martyr  of  Polynesia.  By  Rev. 
James  J.  Ellis. 

HENRY  MARTYN,  His  Life  and  Labors.  By  JsasB 
Pag'%  author  of  "Bishop  Patterson,"  etc. 

NEW  YORK.  Fleming  H.  Revell  Company,    cHicAoa 


WORKS  BY  DR.  A.  J.  GORDON. 


Dr.  Gordon  is  a  writer  with  whom  to  differ  is  better  and  more 
suggestive  than  to  agree  with  some  others.  He  loves  the  truth, 
he  gives  his  readers  much  that  is  trueand  deeply  of  theessence  oj 
Christianty. — The  Independent. 

The  Holy  Spirit  in  Missions.  i2mo.,  cloth,  gilt 
top I1.25 

A  new  volume  by  this  author  is  always  welcomed.  The 
theme  of  this  new  work,  as  treated  by  Dr.  Gordon,  is  sure  to  be 
full  of  deepest  interest. 

Ecce  Venit;  Behold  He  Cometh.  Paper,  net,  50c.; 
cloth |i-25 

It  is  impossible  to  read  this  book  without  being  stimulated 
by  it  and  getting  higher  and  fresher  views  of  some  aspects  of 
Christianity  which  are  perhaps  dwelt  on  less  than  they  should 
be." — Independent. 

In  Christ;  or.  The  Believer's  Union  With  His  Lord. 

Seventh  Edition.    Paper,  net,  35c.;  cloth |ioo 

"We  do  not  remember  since  Thomas  a  Kempis  a  book  so 
thoroughly  imbued  with  a  great  personal  love  to  Christ.  It_  is 
evidently  the  happy  result  of  hours  of  high  communion  with 
Him." — Boston  Courier. 

The  Ministry  of  Healing;  or.  Miracles  of  Cure  in 
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